Monster Hunter: Monstergirl World
by Alleskeins
Summary: Striving to follow in his father's footsteps, a young hunter sets sail for the New World. Along with him, he brings an amulet that hosts unknown powers and abilities. Once he finds out what it is capable of doing, it opens a whole new kind of hunting. Something more... unconventional to say the least. Rated M for adult content. Viewer's discretion is advised.
1. Off to the New World

The time had come. The migration of the elder dragons.

Nobody knew where to and nobody knew what for. At least until now.

The research committee put together an expedition. An expedition to follow wherever this migration was heading to. We gave this place a placeholder name which was subject to change once we knew more about it and could decide on a better one.

We called it: The New World

The day that the research committee put together this expedition, the distant skies we could see the elder dragons Teostra and Fatalis heading towards the horizon and the others couldn't have been far behind.

Me and hundreds of onlookers gazed at the awe-inspiring site that only came along every 10 years waiting in the harbors of the Research committee headquarters.

Me? My name is Kalaydus and today marked the beginning of the trip that would forever change my life.

I just turned 21, meaning for the first time ever, I qualified to join the expeditions of the research committee. Like many hunters before me, I would make a name for myself and hone my ability to fight while growing stronger and stronger with each prey that I defeat.

On the day that the research committee posted these pamphlets:

 _Have you ever wanted to go on an expedition?_

 _Have you ever thought about becoming a hunter unlike any other?_

 _We need you!_

 _The new world is waiting and nobody knows what to expect. Would the monsters there be the same as here or would there be creatures that nobody has ever laid eyes upon?_

 _You could be one of the first to find out! Join the research committee. We will arm you free of charge and set you up alongside veteran hunters to help you learn the ins and outs of monster hunting._

 _Applications will be sorted at the harbor where you can board any of the five fleets and prepare yourself…_

… _for the NEW WORLD!_

I balled my fists, clenching the application paper in my hand as I wait in line to board the Fourth Fleet. The airship loomed over me, the large blimp on the ready for departure. The line got shorter and shorter until it was finally my turn.

I was met with an old, gruff looking man, wearing the standard hunter armor that every rookie in the research committee wore. I doubted though that he was a rookie, he had scars running over his face and a face that spelled hardass. He probably wore it for the occasion to welcome the rookies to meet them as an equal.

With glinting eyes, he looked me up and down. "Welcome aboard the Fourth Fleet. What can I do for ya, kid?"

I handed him the paper, trying to not look too intimidated by his rough demeanor. "I came to sign up for the research committee. You know, the expedition?"

"Of course I know, what do you think I'm here for?"

"S…sorry, that was a stupid question, sir."

"I ain't that old, kid. Drop the 'sir'. The stress of fightin' monsters the size of mountains would turn any man's hair gray early."

"Really? How old are you, exactly?"

He grumbled annoyed, seemingly wanting to avoid the question. "You wanna be a hunter or researcher?"

"Hunter, s… uhh hunter. Just hunter."

"Uhuh, now here's the deal, kid. You're obviously inexperienced. You've never fought a monster in your life before and you're as scrawny as they come. You're gonna have a lotta learnin' to do so stick to your superiors, alright?"

"Understood, si… goddammit it's really hard to not say that!"

The veteran rubbed his face. "Hoh boy… Listen, your application checks out. The barracks are under deck where you will find your armor. Equip yourself and once you're done, I will come to you eventually to introduce you to your weaponry. You're gonna have a lot of options so you better choose wisely what you want to specialize in. You can't be a Jack of all trades out there and be 'okay' at something. You're gonna have to bring you're A-Game eventually and you better master your weapon."

I nodded enthusiastically and could barely contain my excitement to get started. "What will we be hunting? Barroth? Diablos? Deviljo? Dalamadur?!" I clenched my fist. My eyes must have been sparkling at this point.

"Jesus Christ, kid! Dial it down a bit! You ain't even fit to handle a Jaggi yet!" He blurted at me, making everyone on board stare at us. "*sigh* Nobody knows what expects us in the New World. That's kind of the point of this whole expedition. If you wanna find out: Do what I say, grab your shit and wait til we're departing. Until then, you still have the chance to chicken out. If ya don't, welcome to the crew." And then, he turned around and tended to a different applicant. Leaving me to enter the airship.

I wasn't the only excited hunter going on this new adventure. Several hopefuls were already being taught how the research committee will conduct their mission in the New World and some others around my age tried their fighting moves on the training dummies.

I saw all kinds of weapons being used: Switchblades, Chargeblades, Gunlances, Bows and Bowguns. All of the weapons that I've seen other hunters use before. The hunters that I've looked up to ever since childhood. Hunters like my father.

He was the one that raised me on his own after resigning from hunting. I never got to meet my mother. He told me that she was still out there, but that she couldn't come visit me because it was somehow dangerous. She sent me gifts from time to time and dad would always assure me that she loved me very much.

My dad always said that I am a very special child, that I was a very miraculous birth. I never understood that but I never really questioned it either. I suppose every parent says that about their child. That they're special and unique.

And I can hardly complain, I saw my father as a role model. In his hay day he was one of the most famous hunters out there and I strived to carry his legacy. But… when I told him that, he got really, really mad.

At first, he always told me off when I spoke of my plans to join the research committee but the more it became clear to him that I wouldn't cave in, he became somber.

He visited me in my room as I packed my stuff and sat me down for a serious talk. I could still hear his words ring in my head:

 _Son, when I said you were special, I meant it. You have no idea and I don't expect you to understand. I know you will do what you want to and I can't stop you. You're the son of your old man after all, hehe. I just want to ask this one thing of you. Take my amulet with you. I want you to always carry it with you as close as you can. I promise once you figure out how it works, there will be a lot of things that'll become clear to you. I know you'll make me proud, son._

I arrived at my bunk, rowed up with several dozens of similar looking ones.

I found a trunk tucked right underneath my hammock. I pulled it out from underneath, opening it up and finding my Hunter Armor set inside. Heavy brown leather with a green cape thrown over the right-side shoulder. It came with a few extras like the famous slinger that the research committee was known for. A crossbow that you could strap to your arm, simply genius. There were also a set of protective goggles which will come in useful and lastly, a sort of cage that looked like a lantern strapped to my belt.

I had no idea what that last thing was for. Maybe to make light when it was dark out? I didn't think much of it.

In fact, my mind was consumed with much more important things. Things like the hunts I will go on. The monsters I will face. And the New World itself.

I threw myself into the hammock, swinging lazily in it as I stare at the ceiling, fantasizing.

With the heavy armor on me it was a little harder to get comfortable but I managed to get into a somewhat relaxed position. It was at that moment, that I felt this rush of emotion well up within me. A mix of curiosity, excitement but also some anxiety and sadness. It would be the first time leaving my home and I wouldn't return for a very long time. Dad wouldn't be there for me to teach me what to do and I had to become a lot stronger if I ever wanted to become like him.

I pulled out the amulet he gave me from underneath my armor and twirled around the pendant that was hanging from it.

It was made of green scales that formed the rim of it while the center was encased in a sort of glass dome. Within that little dome was some kind of thick liquid that was swirling around. It was red with dark shades, looking almost like blood but more… strange. It didn't look like human blood at least that much was certain. Maybe it was the blood of a monster that my father killed, who knows.

There was something mysterious about it though. I couldn't tell exactly what it was but the aura of this pendant felt like there was more to it than just being an accessory.

"What were you doing with this thing, dad? What didn't you tell me about this?" I mumbled to myself as I cleaned the glass surface with my thumb.

" _Hooks off! Everybody stay away from the railing! We're leaving!"_

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the captain announce the departure of the fleet. There was no going back now.

The whole vessel creaked and shook as we left the pier. It felt weird thinking about how I'm flying in a boat, hundreds of feet above the ground. Just one more reason for my stomach to start turning.

There was so much ahead of me. Maybe once I get to this New World, I will understand my father better… maybe even my mother. I tucked my amulet into my armor again, a cocky smile crossing my lips as I throw my arms behind my head and swing along with the ship's movements.

I hear screeching outside. The incomparable shrieks of Kushala Daora. And I get chills by the thought of one day… facing these monsters as an equal.

 **[Series starting officially after the release of Monster Hunter World.]**

 **(Hey everyone, hope you liked this introduction to this new series of mine.**

 **You have no idea what I have planned and I hope you are as excited as I am. This of course was still the harmless and conservative, but if you know about my other works, you know that it's not going to stay that way.**

 **This series will have all sorts of lewd and sexiness galore.**

 **What do you think so far? What weapon should Kalaydus focus on to start off with? And what monster should he face first? A low rank monster of course, so it makes sense.**

 **Even though this is based on the premise of Monster Hunter World, I will still accept suggestions for monsters of other games in the series, so take a pick.**

 **See you soon.)**


	2. The weapon of your choice

And there I was. Sailing on board of the fourth fleet.

Lying in my bunk, I sway with the ships movements as a gruff, barking noise ripped me out of my relaxation.

"What are ya doin' kid? The other recruits already met on deck for battle instruction. Get a move on!" I heard as I felt droplets of spit coming from the mouth of the veteran hunter that welcomed me earlier.

"I didn't hear any roll calls, sir." I tried to excuse myself.

"Didn't ya hear the gong outside? And weren't ya kinda curious why all the other crewmembers suddenly left the quarters?"

I sit up from my bunk and look to my left and right. He was right, all bunks were empty except mine. "I uhh.. I must've been a bit out of it. Sea sick or something. Heheh…" I tried to cover my sheer inattentiveness with a joke. Poorly. It was lost on him of course.

"One wrong move like that with a monster and yer either injured or dead, son." He pulled my headband over my eyes in a strong tug, making it stuck there and hard to get off. But even as I couldn't see anything, I could still feel his scolding look. "Prep yerself up and get up and at it. Ya got one minute max or we're startin' without ya. And good luck tryin' ta learn usin' a weapon on yer own."

And with those words, I could hear him leaving and climbing back up on deck. I could hear him yell instructions from upstairs as I still struggle to get my headband off my eyes. Okay, not the best first impression, I'll admit. I'll have a chance at regaining some dignity at the training session. I hoped so at least.

I finally got finished putting my clothes in order and quickly sprinted up the stairs to the deck. We were sailing pas some mountainsides through a foggy valley while the recruits were all lined up in a perfect row to wait for their turn.

Each trainee had to state their weapon of choice and then had to imitate the veterans that were proficient in these weapons and showed them the standard attack moves.

Training dummies, wrapped with some monster's hide were put up, so people could hit them as hard as a meteorite and it still wouldn't break.

Before the veterans noticed my late arrival, I stepped into the end of the line, waiting.

"Alright, ya wide-eyed green horns, enough of the starin'. Name's Sullivan. I'm the head leader of the training corps ordered to get this here crew at least somewhat in shape to fight. You've got 14 of us in front of ya, includin' me and be assured, we've all mastered our weapon of choice. So if ya guys think ya gotta be smart on us, or give us some lip, ya gonna be mighty disappointed. Y'all are gonna be the ones lookin' stupid if ya try us, so don't start anythin' with the instructors tellin' them their weapons are too heavy, too weak or too slow to use. They managed with it, so will you!" The grey-haired veteran introduced himself to the crew, walking up and down the line, staring all of the recruits right into the eyes with just a few inches from their faces to intimidate them.

When he got to me, his brows furrowed and his look was on me for a few seconds longer than the other trainees. I could already tell that he didn't think much of me.

"Allright, when I get to ya, y'all are gonna yell the weapon ya wish ta train at me. And do it with some conviction for cryin' out loud.

"YOU!"

"Hammer, Sir!"

"Far right! And you!?"

"Switchblade!"

"Center to the left! What about you?!"

"Insect Glaive!"

"What're ya waitin' for, bug brain? Move it to Andersen over there!..."

I gulped as I saw one recruit after the other being sent toward one of the 14 instructors. As quick as they arrived, they were given the standard issue of their weapon type. Simple but well crafted iron weapons. Immediately I heard clanking of longswords and the explosions of gunlances, the clicking of insect glaives and the electrical zaps of the chargeblades.

And when all others were assigned to a post, Veteran Sullivan arrived at me. His eyes were sharp and he already seemed to not care what I'd pick. "Well, ya had plenty of time to be thinkin' about it, kid. What weapon's it gonna be?"

I gulped and wrung out the words. "Dual Blades."

"Dual blades, huh?" He scratched his stubble beard and he wasn't to happy with my choice apparently. "Lucky me, I get to teach ya. Try not ta hurt yerself, kid and follow me over to my sparring corner." He turned around, making sure that I noticed how little he enjoyed the thought of having me as his student.

I hesitantly followed him, trying to ignore the other trainees that turned their heads towards us. Even they were apparently interested in seeing who the head instructor is teaching.

Sullivan stuck his head into a decorated, blue chest, pulling out a pair of iron dual blades. They both had sharp edges on the underside of their blade but while one of them had a flat, normal upside, the other was curved in and was serrated with metal spikes. The grips of the two blades reminded of a bony spine which had spikes as well as if you were supposed to punch something with the grip when you were in a tight spot.

"We call em Matched Slicers. These're the weapons every newbie starts out with. Think you can handle these, kid?" He said as he tossed the dual blades to me. I barely managed to catch them without cutting myself, eliciting a giggle from the other trainees who quickly looked away when I turned around to them.

"That depends, sir. What would you have me do?" I said as I inspected my newly acquired, weirdly light blades. The grip was perfect and it felt so natural to hold them.

"Listen up, squirt. Yer trying ta make a dent in a monster, so your grip better be tight. With dual blades you don't deal the most damage, but it needs to be dealt rapidly. Your swings need to be strong enough to pierce a monster's hide but also quick enough so you can get out of the following counter attacks. So since you seem more of the agile than the strong type, I'd recommend the overhead butterfly move. It basically means you jump towards the monster, spin your body with your blades stretched out as far as you can and bring down the swing with the power of your rotation. Like so."

Sullivan pulled out his own pair of iron dual blades as he readied himself for a launched attack on the thick, wooden pole covered in monster hide.

I watched him intently and I think my mouth dropped when I saw at which fluidity he got into battle stance before pulling his leg back and launching himself towards the pole. His body spun like a corkscrew in the air as the blades he held close to his body suddenly fanned out and he turned into a spinning tornado of death. His blades sliced across the monster hide, leaving significant scratches on it but not cutting through the hide entirely. That was probably due to the limited sharpness of our weaponry. Weapons created with higher sharpness would've completely destroyed this pole. And I have no doubt Sullivan could've cut the entire thing in half if he really tried with his own equipment.

After his attack, Sullivan jumped backwards, away from the pole as if to simulate dodging. He wasn't even slightly out of breath as he turned to me. "Ya got that?"

"I got it, si… sorry, I wasn't supposed to call you that anymore."

"Just call me Sullivan for fucks sake. Get your ass up and show me that ye can do more than just spit big words and lounge around our ship." He stepped away from the training dummy and leaned on the railing to watch me perform my attack.

I took a deep breath and got into the battle stance I imitated from him. My eyes were fixed on the pole and the grip on my blades was tight. I had the move memorized and visualized it. Launch, spin and bring down the blades one after the other.

I pulled my leg back just like he did and jumped. I tried to spin my body mid-air, but I could already tell it wasn't fast enough. I closed my eyes and tried to put all my power into my arm as I swung it down. And… I bounced off.

Not only did I just bounce off, but it was like the hide repelled me and launched me right back in the same arch that I came at it. My dual blades slid over the deck of the ship and my body rolls several feet away from the target.

Immediately the other trainees focus on me and start snickering. My arms and back hurt a bit, but I didn't suffer any other wounds. What really hurt, was the humiliation. My trainer put his hands to his hips and walked towards me while shaking his head.

"*sigh* Maybe you should return with the next ship, kid. This clearly isn't…"

"Shut… the… fuck… up…"

I spoke through my teeth as I picked up my swords again. Sullivan reached out to pick me up, but I whacked his hand away from my face. Everyone fell silent as I got back on my feet, unsteady as it may have been, I managed to stand straight. "I get it, okay! You think I'm lousy and unfit for this mission. You made it perfectly clear that you don't have high expectations of me. But if you don't even believe in me, then I will have to do it for myself."

I ripped my talisman off my neck and tied the torn ends of the necklace around the grip of one of my blades. I inhale and exhale heavily, suppressing my frustration as I head towards the training pole. I looked over my shoulder at the speechless veteran.

"I made a mistake. It happens." I said calmly as I readied my blades again. I faced the pole, pulled my foot back and kicked myself upwards into a lunge attack. This time I spun much faster and the first hit… was a huge success. I left a gash on the monster hide and everyone who watched had their eyes widening and their faces lighting up.

Looking at the damage I did, I wasn't satisfied. I flipped my blades so they were facing behind me and I started wildly thrashing at the pole. I got in tens of hits, meeting the pole with a flurry of cuts. And as my frenzy slowly died down, I swung my swords over my head and struck them down onto it together before using the momentum to launch myself backwards in a dodge.

Everything fell silent. The monster hide was filled with new cuts and holes. I put my swords together while breathing heavily and sheathed them on my back.

I looked at the ground and heaved heavy breaths. My lungs were burning. "I improvised a bit there at the end… *huff* Think that counts as a successful attack?" I smirk to myself even though I had no air to be sarcastic.

But as I looked over at Sullivan, our heads immediately turned to the other recruits who started cheering and clapping.

"Way to go, dude!"

"Holy shit, that was amazing!"

"You need to show me how you did this!"

I was euphoric and my heart was beating like crazy. I turned to Sullivan who rolled his eyes and approached me.

He put his hands on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eyes with a piercing glare. "Ya did good…"

"Thanks Su…"

"…against a dummy. Don't get cocky, kid." He cut me off before I could finish.

I stared straight back at him. "It's Kalaydus, Sullivan. Drop the 'kid' thing'." I smirked.

He understandingly smirked back and jokingly answered. "Shoulda never allowed ya to stop callin' me 'sir'."

We nodded to each other as he put his hands off me and was about to turn away when suddenly another veteran ran up to us. "Sullivan! Look at the pole!"

"What? The pole? I saw what Kalaydus did already. I…" His words were stuck in his throat as we all faced the training pole.

The hide that was stretched over the pole suddenly… dissolved. The scales fell off one after the other and piled onto the floor. The hide underneath shrunk until if fell off completely and was only a quarter the size of what it once was. The wooden pole was stripped completely and only the unharmed wood was left.

The pile of scales and monster hide on the floor had everyone's attention and their eyes soon turned towards me since I was the last to use it. "Kalaydus? What did you do? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" Sullivan asked baffled and shocked.

"I swear… I…I don't know! I just did what you asked. I couldn't have broken it, could I?"

"That thing is built to withstand hammers and greatswords. It's impossible that you destroyed it. Unless you laced your blades with something."

"I did nothing to the blades, I only had them for a couple of minutes and you saw everything. Unless…"

I pulled out my blade, looking at my father's amulet that was tied around the grip and reflected the sunlight as it dangled there.

"Show me that amulet, maybe I can figure out…"

" **INCOMING!"**

A panicked shout rang out from the crow's nest on top of the main sail's mast.

The trainees, veterans and me all ran to the railing, looking ahead of the ship. We were still sailing through the foggy valley. And from the foggy horizon…

…we saw a boulder of molten, burning rock flinging towards us.

After a stunned silence, Sullivan was the one shouting louder than he ever had before. "FIND COVER!"

Everyone ran towards the back of the ship, barely escaping as the gigantic projectile hit the front of the airship. It was completely obliterated and the fire quickly ate its way into the wood. Immediately the researchers we had on board came up to the deck to throw buckets of water onto the fire. But it just kept popping up again.

Chaos ensued.

We turned the ship to guide it behind the mountains for cover, fearful that there might be another attack like that.

In the distance, something parted the misty clouds and something the size of a mountain pierced through the fog. Nobody was able to identify what it was, but it was moving and heading towards us.

I ducked behind the main mast as the other recruits went beneath deck. And then I heard it again.

" **Another one incoming!"**

I peeked out from behind the mast and indeed another smoking rock arched through the sky. And worst of all… towards me.

I run for my life, huffing and wheezing from the suffocating smoke. But I couldn't reach the stairs in time. Even though I don't think that would've kept me safe for long either.

I felt the impact of the rock behind me. The wave of it launched me into the air as I was running away…

…and I was launched off the ship.

I saw the ground disappear beneath me, knowing that I would not fall onto the ship again and instead into the foggy abyss.

I screamed my lungs out as I fell. Everything in front of my eyes turned grey as I fell through the clouds.

After that layer of fog, I fell with my back first and couldn't see what was underneath. All until I felt myself breaking through leaves and sticks into some kind of foliage.

Scratches and whips hit my back as I just kept falling and falling, slower and slower. Until Suddenly, I stopped. My legs, back and arms were caught by a bed of vines. I looked up at the hole I put through whatever tree this was and through it, I could barely see the airship as it disappeared behind the fog again.

My entire system shut down. My heart, my body and my nerves were completely burnt out and I fell unconscious in the vines.

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 **[Hey everyone. It's finally here. Monster Hunter: World… or Anthro World in this case. I decided not to jump into the monster hunting right away to establish the scenario a bit more.**

 **From here on out, Kalaydus will start to encounter several of your favorite monsters independent from which game they are from. Since MHW is pretty open to old and new monsters and obviously this is a new continent where it is not known which species inhabit it, I thought I could be a bit lenient with the monsters who appear here.**

 **I hope you guys are going to enjoy this series. I definitely think I will. We'll see each other soon and of course…**

 **Happy Hunting.]**


	3. Survival of the fittest

Blurry. Everything was so blurry. I could barely keep my eyes open, let alone feel my body. Everything was numb and a sizzling feeling went through my muscles.

I felt like I was going to vomit, but I kept myself from it. I must've been out for several hours and I was still hanging off a couple of vines that luckily supported my weight. Who knew if there was even ground underneath me.

As my vision cleared, I saw the leaves rustling and the hole that I fell in through was no longer in the treetop.

I put my energy together and tried to pull myself up straight when I noticed that my leg was stuck on something.

I propped my upper body up, wanting to set my foot free by hand, but when I did, I didn't see vines holding me back. Instead, a pair of golden, slim, reptilian eyes.

I bore my shock in silence as I watched this huge, yellow and green wyvern thoughtlessly chewing on my leg. It seemed to not bite with its small teeth so I only felt the gums clench down on me. It was clearly trying to tug at me and not to rip a piece off of me.

It was so focused on pulling me, it didn't even notice that I was awake. I used the opportunity to get a good look at this monster. Even back home, I've never seen any creature like this one. It was quadrupedal and its scaly skin was a yolky yellow on the back and grey-ish blue on the underside. The skin of its belly seemed less sturdy, thinner and looser than the one on the top of it where most of the tough scales were overcovered with a leafy, mane-like… I don't know what to call it. Fur?

A long tail stretched out from its lower back and its head was like that of a supersized lizard with a blank, straight stare ahead.

"Grrrggh…" It seemed frustrated. I was dangling from the vines but the sturdy fiber didn't rip even in the slightest and there was no chance that this monster would get me down from this angle.

I was hovering over another layer of vines that seemed strong enough for the wyvern to stand on. It was part of a gigantic tree that loomed over a green beach area underneath.

I kept quiet, swallowing my breath. I raised my hand over my head, reaching for the blades on my back and slowly, but surely trying to launch a surprise attack.

But the very second my blades made a scratching sound from unsheathing, the beast's eyes shot to attention and with my boot in its mouth, it looked up at me, its gaze confused and curious.

I swung there, a leg full of saliva and my weapons barely out of their sheaths. "Umm… having an afternoon snack huh? Well, I can't really recommend you eat me so…"

"Raaahhhhhh!" It opened its jaw wide, letting out a bellowing roar. It was mad and ready to attack me.

I fumbled to get my swords out and as awkward as it was, I flailed around, slashing the vines that held me up. After one after the other snapped away, I fell down onto the bed of thicker vines with the monster finishing its roar with its head stretched towards the skies. After focusing its sights back on me, I could see the spit dripping from its tongue. It was hungry and not ready to let its snack get away.

I pushed myself backwards with my feet until I hit an upwards stretching vine on which I pulled myself up to my feet, brandishing my sharp blades.

The monster's head was erratic, inspecting me from head to toe, deciding whether or not it should attack me.

I decide to take on an offensive stance and point the tips of my swords at it. "If you want to eat me that badly… bring it." I demanded as I trembled in fear of my first proper monster. Sweat crossed my forehead and my legs were twitching to get away, but I could hardly back down now.

But it didn't care for my fear, only for its hunger. It clawed into the vines for grip and dashed towards me, with its fangs wide open to give me a view of the bottomless pit that was its mouth.

Blood rushed into my muscles and I reflexively jumped out of the way. The wyvern crashed into the vine that I just pulled myself up on. Its teeth dig into it, leaving a bitemark as it notices that it's not me. Its gaze flicked over to me as its teeth unlatched from the vine.

Another attack was imminent and if I didn't act immediately and got on the offense, it would eventually get me. I try to get an advantage on this beast as I look around for options. And there it was. The vines connected seamlessly to the trunk of the tree where a large batch of mushrooms grew. If they were sturdy enough, I could run up them and maybe gain enough altitude to mount this thing.

I put the plan into action immediately and tempted the monster to chase me closer to the tree in another brute charge. Its jaw shuts and opens with its movements as it waddles after me with surprising speed. I ran towards the wall of hard mushrooms which make it very easy to perform an upwards wall run.

I pushed myself off the ragged trunk as the monster crashed into the tree. The perfect opportunity to mount it.

"AAHHHHH!" I lunge down onto it with my swords piercing its hide and I tighten my grip on them to keep from falling off its back. The wyvern screamed at the sudden pain and thrashed about to shake me off. I gritted my teeth as I repeatedly rammed my blades into it one after the other, again and again.

The wyvern would not give up though, trying to crane its neck to bite onto some part of me. I thought I could finish it off right then and there, but then the monster seemed to have gotten an idea. It ran towards the same wall of mushroom and just threw its body against it. I got to experience the now familiar feeling of getting flung through the air once again and the bed of vines wobbled as I landed on top of it. We must have loosened it with our fighting and I was certain that if we kept this up, the only way we're going from there, is down. And this time, there would be no vines to catch my fall.

I tried to look for a way out, but with the wyvern blocking the only escape, I had no choice but to end this. It breathed heavily with the slam having knocked the air out of its lungs and its wounds clearly doing a number on it.

I feel around the ground, not even breaking eye contact with the wyvern out of fear of the next attack. I finally felt the grips of my blades just in time as the beast launched another, desperate and frustrated attack on me. It jumped towards me though it must have used more force than needed since instead of onto me, it jumped overhead of me. I jabbed my blades up into it, wanting to slice it open and finally finish it off. And my blades glided right through its belly from its throat all the way down to the beginning of its tail. Or did it…

I felt no physical resistance from its flesh, let alone its skin. It was like my blades were ethereal and didn't even make contact although I could see them sticking into the monster. There were no gashes either, no guts, nothing. My weapons left no scars on it.

And yet… when I lied there in fear, worrying that it would just turn around and attack again… instead of doing that… it landed limply and collapsed. And then it was lying there. Lifeless.

My heart was beating out of my chest and my entire body was covered in panicked sweat underneath my leather armor. I won this fight by the skin of my teeth.

I slowly but surely get back on my feet, sheathing my blades as I look over the corpse of my first slain monster. I walked over to it, still out of breath.

I had no idea how to feel. I felt pride, but also guilt for killing this creature. I tried to justify it as a necessary action to survive but at the same time I questioned if there would've been another option. Well… it was too late now. I had killed my first monster as a novice hunter.

I paid my respects, wanting to make a memory I would never forget by gently stroking the monster's head. But then I felt something on my hand that I didn't expect or hoped to feel. Its breath.

Just as I wanted to get away from it, I heard something tearing. The fiber of the vine that the wyvern bit earlier was slowly losing its sturdiness and with the combined weight of the two of us on one spot, it was ripping.

I couldn't even run or scream before the bed of vines broke off the tree and me and the monster fell towards the foot of the tree. I flailed my arms, seeing the ground coming closer and closer when suddenly, the slinger on my arm went off and shot something like a bolt. A bolt with a rope attached to it.

"This thing has a grappling hook?!" I yelled to myself as said grappling hook arched through the air until it wrapped around a thick branch close to the ground and pulled me towards it. I swung from side to side as I heard the heavy thud of the other creature that fell down with me impact the ground. I tried to control my swinging, making an effort to see if the monster took any damage.

I hung there, dangling off the branch with my outstretched arm, and hit onto the slinger several times to get it loose. "How do I… *huff* get this thing off?!"

Suddenly, I must've triggered some mechanism and the grappling hook unlatched itself from the branch and the rope reeled in again, letting me get down onto the ground safely.

I turned around, finally seeing the wyvern lying in the gravel. I watched as the bed of vines we were standing on came falling down slowly until it landed on top of it like a net.

It was almost peaceful, like a sleeping child being tucked into a thick blanket. I wasn't sure whether the wyvern was dead or not and a part of me was hoping for the latter.

But whether or not it was, there was something happening underneath those vines. They were rustling and cracking and the bump of the monster's shape somehow shrunk in size.

"What the hell?" I wondered to myself as I carefully approached the slowly shrinking pile of vines. I was too curious for my own good and shoved the branches aside, digging into this pile. I shredded the fiber with my blades and tried to untangle this thick mess until I reached the creature. If I was lucky, I could set it free and maybe we can go our separate ways.

I could see the yellowy hide through the shrub and with that motivation I cleaned up the rest of the brush, uncovering what was underneath.

I was stunned…

My mouth hung open and my movements became almost nonexistent.

On the ground laid the entire hide of the wyvern. It was hollow like it shed its skin completely in one whole piece. Separate scales were scattered over the floor and the hair it had before had completely detached from the hide.

The most unexpected sight of all though…

… was the limp body of a woman.

She had a tall body, naked and strongly defined. She was curvy with thick, strong thighs and a bountiful chest. Her hair was blonde and unkempt but long and voluminous with some sort of dreads in them. Her overall look seemed almost tribal. But what was the most striking was that her arms and legs ended in reptilian claws with her human skin transitioning into yellowy scales from her elbows and knees downwards.

I leaned down and opened her eyelids carefully. They were the same, narrow, reptilian golden eyes I saw on the wyvern before.

"But… it can't be… it can't be…" I looked at her body in silence. With her arms and legs covering her private areas, I didn't see anything I wasn't supposed to. I just didn't know what to do.

I looked around.

To the left was a path that led to the beach where I could see some Aptonoth roaming around. At least those were some monsters I knew.

And to the right was a deep jungle full of bugs flying around and who-knows-what lurking in the shadows.

Well, it was obvious which was the more pleasant choice… and then it started raining. Heavily. Under the cover of the gigantic tree, we were shielded from it, but even the Aptonoth out on the beach disappeared into the brush as a rainstorm started to kick into gear.

My face slumped into a complete deadpan expression. "This day really hates me, doesn't it?"

I looked down at the woman. She was breathing. Snoring even. She looked calm and peaceful. At least one of us could keep calm.

I ran my hands through my hair as I looked around once more. I found a patch of a plant with huge leaves and cut long straps out of it I fashioned some sort of wraps out of them and carefully wrapped them around the woman's bust and hips, just to provide some cover.

There was no way I could just leave her lying here.

I shoved my hands underneath her body and picked her up. She was heavy, but still manageable to carry.

Obviously, a break at the beach would've been what I needed right now, but with the storm picking up and the wind howling wildly, the only way was deeper into the forest.

The woman breathed peacefully in my arms and at that moment, I didn't care what she was. I had to find shelter for us.

And so I gulped and made my way into the thicket. Straight into almost certain death. Something told me that wyvern wasn't the apex predator here. Or at least not the only one. Well, it's not the most dangerous thing I survived today.


	4. A rough night

I couldn't hear her snoring anymore over the crackling of the little campfire I built. This woman, whether she actually was the wyvern I fought or not, managed to be really loud while she was asleep.

I found us shelter underneath a roof of thick leaves inside of the deeper jungle, hoping that at least in a stormy night like this one, the other monsters would keep to their nests and not bother with us.

Even though I shouldn't, I had enough stress for one day and tried to regain my stamina by kicking up my feet and relaxing near the fire.

I looked over at my newly found 'friend' who was wrapped in a blanket of thinner vines and greenery. Her head was turned my way as her eyes trembled restlessly under her eyelids. She was close enough to the fire to not get cold but I was still worried she might have kept some wounds from our fight. If she really is what I believe she is.

She just kept rolling in her sleep and mumbling inaudible ramblings to herself. I sighed, got off my seat and checked up on the sleeping beauty.

Crouching over her, I notice that she's drooling and her hair was bundling up from her constant rolling around. I tried to get a good look at her, trying to use the light of the flickering light of the fire while not blocking it with my body.

I ended up in a position where I knelt by her side while leaning my head towards hers.

Her lips were twitching and just by looking at her, I could tell she was having either a bad dream or at least she was fighting something in her mind. The skin on her face was riddled with smaller and broader light scars. Whatever happened before I arrived here, she sure has gotten quite a beating. What if she really was who I think she is? What if I just added to someone who already suffered enough pain.

I pondered to myself as I watched her. The least I could do now was take care of her. My hand almost magnetically found its way to her head, combing through her hair to get it somewhat straight. It was pretty coarse and clumped but the touch of it actually felt kind of nice.

I smiled to myself as I watched her sleeping face crack a small and more relaxed smile.

When I set out to become an ace hunter, I prepared myself to discover a love/hate kind of relationship with the monsters I hunt. Hating them for the troubles and pain that they caused but appreciating them for their role in the ecosystem. Some monsters could very much destroy this world if they felt like it.

With this girl though, I couldnt't imagine her intentionally harming someone.

When my dad and I moved to the countryside, isolated from many of the larger civilizations, my social life really suffered. I've never talked, let alone had a relationship with any girls. Maybe it was one of the reasons I looked forward to talking to this one. How awkward it would be when I actually had to talk to the girl I just stabbed a few hours ago? I had no idea.

I would have to suck it up, I guess.

I got back up to my feet, deciding that I should let her rest for a little bit.

"Ngghhh…" Until I heard her grumbling out of her sleep.

As it actually happened, my heart started beating fast. I was nervous and uncertain which angle I should take when initiating a conversation with her.

I bit down on my lip and steeled myself as I once again turned around to her. Indeed, her eyes flickered open, needing some time to adjust. Even in the dark, I could clearly see her shimmering, golden irises as they narrowed and opened to adjust to the light.

I knelt down, awkwardly rubbing my neck. She didn't seem to notice me yet but I hoped she could at least hear me. "Are you umm… feeling okay."

She perked up when she heard my voice and turned her face upwards to look at me. Her eyes glared at me and she almost seemed to hiss at me. "You…" She groaned angrily.

"Yeah… me…" I knew this didn't bode well.

"What happened..." She tried to get up by herself when her sides began to sting and she held them in pain even though there were hardly any visible wounds there. Maybe it was more of a phantom pain carried over from her former body just like her scars. She collapsed onto the mat of greenery as she inspected her now smaller and more human-like arms.

"What happened to me?" She was still weak and just barely managed to wring the words out.

"Trust me, I wish I could give you a better answer other than stating the obvious."

"You understand me?" She didn't even seem that surprised, she was just trying to make sure when she asked me.

"Well, you speak my language it seems. So yeah, I… understand you."

"Does that mean I'm human now?"

"At least partly it seems. I…I don't exactly know how this is possible either."

Seemingly having regained more strength in her body, she sat up and knelt down across from me. "Well, your kind seems to have strong fighters, so I won't complain too much about being turned into one of them." She somewhat seemed to have coped with her transition and even chuckled at the pure prospect. "You must be an ace hunter if you managed to defeat someone like me." She proclaimed proudly as she faced me and pumped a determined fist.

I hissed in uncomfortableness. "Actually, I just started out today. I've… never fought a monster before that."

In seconds, her proud face slumped and the color left her face. "Seriously?"

"Uhh, yeah. But I guess I just got… lucky."

She faced the ground, tears dropping onto the already wet ground. "Defeated by a noob hunter. It can't be! I'm a goddamn warrior!"

"Huh?" I was stunned by her sudden outburst. "What's the matter?"

Her crying got stronger and stronger as she pounded the ground with her fist. Her punch was strong enough that some of the wet mud even splattered onto me. "Every other damn monster in this forest already uses me for a punching bag! And now even a scrawny little human like you can defeat me?!"

My heart sunk. I had no idea how to respond to her except for staying silent. I waited for her to have cried herself out, but she just gritted her teeth and continued to be angry at herself.

I struggled to decide on which way to tackle this. "What's your name?" I asked as I tried to break the silence between us and the gloom still hung around her.

"Name? What do you mean?" She grumbled as she wiped the remains of her tears from her cheeks.

"Your name. How do people call you?"

"People don't usually call out to me, you know?"

"Right, stupid question…" I sighed and tried to get a little closer to her. She didn't even react to it as she sat there, dejectedly hugging her knees and blankly looking straight ahead. "Well, how do you call yourself then?" I asked carefully.

"I'm nobody… I don't really need a name. Is that something your people really need to have? A name to call someone by?"

"It certainly makes talking to them a lot more easy." I joked around, but she wasn't having it. "Look, if it's bothering you that much that I defeated you, don't take it too personally. It had nothing to do with strength. I mean look at me, I'm pretty much a stick figure." I said as I lifted my arm to flex what little muscle I had.

She glared over at me, looking like she'd be ready to lunge at me any second. "What was it then? If it's not strength that helps a fighter win a battle, then what is?"

"Like I said, it was pure luck. Compared to most other men, I'm a lightweight. I don't think I'd win anything if it came down to strength."

"You're on!" Suddenly a burst of determination flared in her eyes.

"What?"

"How do you humans compete with strength?"

"Umm… arm wrestling I guess?" I stuttered as I scrambled for a response.

"Great! How do you do it? Show me!" She was hungering for a revanche, her face determined and… even a bit scary.

"Well, you do it like this… I guess." I moved over to a ragged stump of a tree and put my elbow onto it, signaling her to do the same. Confused she put her own elbow on the other side and, after I instructed her to, clenched her claws around my hand. Even her grip alone could've gotten me to give in, but I put on a brave face and bore it.

"Al… ngghh… right, now the goal is to press the other's hand down onto the surface using nothing but your arm's strength."

"That's it?"

"I never said it was a complicated competition. Amongst equally strong people it's pretty exciting." I shrugged.

"Well, then we should be a good match, right?" She licked her lips as her grip tightened even more around my hand.

"Ack! Alright, on the count of 3. 1…2…3…" I pushed against her claw as hard as I could, gritting my teeth as I struggled to even keep the middle ground. My face was scrunched and I was actually surprised that I was still holding up…

…until I noticed that she showed no sign of a struggle and cocked her head in confusion until it lit up in understanding. "Ohhh! Was that what 3 meant. Sorry, I didn't know."

"Huh?" Was the last thing I could get out until my hand was effortlessly slammed onto the tree stump. It was at such a rapid speed that the pain only set in a few moments later when I bit down on my other hand's glove. "Ngghghhh! God that hurt! Fuck!" I pulled my hand from her claw and shook it around to distract from the pain. "Ahh that's gonna sting for a while. Nghhh."

She bursted out into laughter and slammed her hand onto the stump repeatedly as she tried to regain her breath. "Haha, you really were serious! You have the arm strength of a child."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in, will you?" I hissed as I stretched my fingers to see if they were still working alright. As the pain settled a little, I tried to attempt a bit more conversation with her again. "So, how am I gonna call you from now on, oh grand and powerful warrior?" I joked as I felt the atmosphere between us loosen a little.

She put a finger to her chin and still smiled from the remainder of her laughter. "Let's see. A winner needs a title, right?" Well, I listened to the humans who came through here before. They were looking for something and I think they were calling me something called a Great Jagras. It has the word "great" in it, so they had to be talking about me." She pointed her thumb at herself proudly. I was just glad she was in a way better mood.

I smiled at her and extended my better hand to her. Great Jagras, huh? That's a bit of a mouthful. How about I call you Jaina? That sound alright with you?"

She smiled back and behind her brutish attitude her simple, genuine smile was actually really cute. Her hand met mine with a loud slap. "Great Jaina then. It would kind of suck to take the great part out of it."

I chuckled "I'll think about it. Wait, did you say you've met humans around here before?"

She raised an eyebrow as if it was something obvious. "Well, yeah. They have a settlement not far from here. I thought you were with them?"

"What!? No, but that's where I need to go! I need to tell them about…" I dashed to get up, before Jaina pulled on my sleeve to keep me from going.

As I turned around, she shook her head. "Don't do that!"

"Why? I need to get back ASAP!"

"Not at night, you dummy! You wake up the wrong monster around here or you stumble somewhere you're not supposed to be at and they'll eat you alive!"

I looked into the darkness, not knowing what would expect me inside it. It would be too brash and idiotic to head out like that. Especially since I had no clear direction to where the settlement was. "*sigh* Maybe you're right. I'll camp out here tonight."

I reluctantly turned away from the direction the research commission was possibly located at and went back to sit at the fire and stare at the flames. I looked up at Jaina who soon sat down a bit next to me and smiled at me.

"You know, you don't need to stick around me. If you feel better, you can leave any time. I'll manage."

She shimmied a little closer and, almost like a friend, bumped my shoulder playfully with hers. "You think I'd just leave you alone out here? After you took care of me and got my mood up again?"

"Heh, should I remind you, that I was the one who caused your wounds in the first place?"

"Yeah, but you're not the first one to give me scars." She said dejectedly as she showed me her arms, legs and belly. Each of them were covered in gashes and scratches on her human skin as well as in her scale hide. The wounds I caused her were actually on the smaller side compared to the larger ones that stretched across her torso. But those wounds still looked different and seemed to have various, different causes other than cuts.

"Where did you get those from?"

Her gaze turned towards the fire again as she began talking with a sad undertone in her voice. "You… heard me say it before, didn't you? I'm everyone's punching bag around here. I can't breathe fire, spit poison or shoot lightning." She turned to me, her eyes dewy and small droplets reflecting light in the edges of her eyes. "My strength is all I have to fend for myself. All you can do when you're down, is getting up again over and over."

I looked her in the eyes, seeing the hopelessness and struggle behind it. "You're right there. You have to. Again and again. No matter how much is stacked against you."

"What?" Her face perked up a little when I spoke. Her words resonated with me and I understood her mentality.

"Heh, you've seen it first-hand. Everybody who I told that I wanted to become a hunter, said I was insane. I was too weak, too brash and tried way too hard to prove myself. I was so stubborn and I wanted to succeed so badly. The only thing I had going for me was that I was quick and agile. But that could only get me so far. Everyone saw me as a weakling, someone who could never stand up to a monster. And I guess out of stubbornness again… that's why I'm here. To prove them wrong. And no matter how many times I'm going to be beaten down, kicked and belittled, I'll have to suck it up and be stronger the next time." I spoke silently, trying to suppress the sadness as I stoked the flames.

Jaina shimmied even closer to me and listened to me speak as we were pressed arm to arm. A slight cold emanated from her, probably because she was cold-blooded, but somehow it was a rather comforting cold and it made me feel appreciative of having her close to me. "You know… often times the support you need has to come from yourself."

"It doesn't have to be JUST yourself." She said as she lightly nudged me so I would look at her. I was met with a sweet smile that almost made you forget about how tough she was. "Welcome at the bottom of the food chain... hmmm"

"What?"

"Hehe, you haven't told me your name yet, dummy. For someone who put so much importance on it, you sure don't follow your own rules."

I chuckled along with her as she wrapped her arms around mine, making me kind of flustered. I could feel her significantly large breasts squeeze against me from the side and awkwardly turned away to hide my blushing face. "Kalaydus. It's… Kalaydus."

She nodded as she rested her head on my shoulder and started to slowly get tired. "*yawn* You should probably get some rest too if we want to get up before the other monsters do. I'll guide you to the settlement."

We leaned against the root of the giant tree as Jaina still clung to my side and rested her head on me. "Like… this? Are you sure?" I stuttered as I could still feel the squishiness of her supple breasts. The wraps that contained them were stretched rather thin and I was almost hoping that they wouldn't hold out. I am just a guy after all.

"We don't know how long this fire is going to last. We need to keep each other warm until morning."

"Yeah but…"

Her arms squeezed tighter around me as she nuzzled my shoulder. "And it's not exactly uncomfortable either." My argument was cut off by her last words as she closed her reptilian eyes and started to softly snore. Even though her skin was a bit cold, her breath that tickled my neck was nice and warm. I looked down at her sleeping face with my arm tucked underneath her. I found myself smiling to myself as I watched her. Just like before, seeing her so calm, made me relax as well. I moved my arm a little to not have it cramped in the morning and wrapped it around her back to hold her close.

I couldn't deny that the feeling of having her sleep on top of me was a very pleasant one.

I knew this was just the very start of whatever was ahead of me. And maybe with a companion like her, this challenge was going to be a lot easier to overcome.

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 **[Well, there you go, the new chapter done already. I've been kind of on a writing spree lately since this story is really fueling my creativity a lot. I know of some complaints people had in the reviews and I want to let you know that: Yes, I'm working on getting better. I want to develop the characters, mostly the main character a lot more in the future. I'll admit that the introduction to him was kind of… cheesy and made him look like a generic MC. I hope to give him a lot more character so he doesn't turn into a Gary Stu as one of the reviewers called it.**

 **I'm saying this here, since there were a couple of reviews that I couldn't respond to since they were either guest readers or their private messaging was turned off.**

 **For example, Mistress Kasumi who I really wanted to respond to, but wasn't able to. I hope I get to answer her sometime in the future but that's up to her. I don't want to put it up in public here like that.**

 **Also there was a guest reviewer a few chapters ago that went into lengthy detail about what he expected this story to be like. He had a lot of concerns about how I handled the story, the monsters, the behavior of the characters and so on and I would like to say that I'll try to do my best to meet these expectations. I'm always trying to learn and get better and if you have any advice on how to handle certain aspects better, feel free to let me know as we go along. That said, if this story doesn't please you in any way, I won't judge you for that either and hope you find something to better suit your tastes since my story is probably not what you're looking for.**

 **Still, thanks to all of you for your support, this series has blown up in the last week and I'm really glad it's so well received. I'll continue to do my best and improve to the best of my abilities. See you very soon.**

 **Spoiler Alert:**

 **The next chapter will be the first smut scene in the series. Hope you're looking forward to that, and if you're not here for that, feel free to skip it.]**


	5. Keep your enemies closer

It wasn't even halfway through the night when I woke up. The chirping of grasshoppers filled the silence. I uncomfortably shifted from side to side, my back aching from the uncomfortable surface of the roots I've been sleeping on.

Only after I got up and stretched, I noticed that something was off. The fact that I could sit up at all should have been enough to make me aware of it. Jaina wasn't by my side anymore.

I looked around for any trace of her, but the only thing I saw were the remains of the fire that only glowed dimly.

I called out into the darkness. "Jaina? Jaina?!"

"Raraarawawa!" My voice rustled the hidden creatures in the forest and I immediately pressed my hand on my mouth until the ruckus calmed down again and only the crickets chirped again.

I swallowed my breath, getting up as quietly as I could and setting out to find out where she went.

The darkness was suffocating and I could barely see a few feet ahead before my eyes adjusted.

I kept to the ground, feeling through the mud to see if Jaina left any traces and indeed there was a series of clawed footprints heading towards the beach.

Carefully tracing them, I arrived at the glistening, gentle ocean that reflected the beaming moonlight. By night the shoreline made for a beautiful vista, with soft waves rolling over the sand and their sounds mixing with the clacking of helm crabs crawling over the larger rocks.

But on the ridge of one of these rocks sat not one of them, but Jaina with her arms behind her back, leaning on the rock's surface while gazing at the moon.

The weight that fell off my chest when I saw her was indescribable.

The moment I looked at her illuminated figure I noticed that it was the first time I had seen her from the back and I only now realized that she had a tail growing from her lower back. If you ignored that along with her arms that turned into claws halfway, you could almost think she was just a young woman lounging at the beach.

As my eyes focused on her tail, I inevitably traced its length up to her plump, flattened butt, covered in the wraps I made for her but stretching enough for the outlines of her rear to be perfectly visible. I wanted to pull my eyes away but it was only a little part of her, as I only then realized how great her body is. Her back curves in a smooth hourglass figure. I found myself staring at her for several seconds before I could chase the thoughts away and approached her.

"So much for sleeping through the night so we can get up early, huh?"

She perked up, her claws twitching and digging into the rock before she turned around. "Oh, Kalaydus. You should be sleeping right now."

"So should you." I responded as I calmly took a seat next to her as we looked out onto the ocean.

Jaina moved her claw up in front of her face, clenching and releasing it over and over like she was trying to get used to it.

"Weird night, isn't it?"

She nodded, still focusing on her arm. "I thought I could just brush it off like it's nothing but it… feels so weird."

"If it counts for anything, I'm sorry I roped you into this."

She turned towards me, surprisingly bearing a soft, melancholic smile. "It's not that bad. It's a chance to… oh… forget it." She said as scraped her feet through the crunching sand.

"A chance to get out of here?" I asked carefully.

"Maybe…"

We sat there in silence as Jaina kept staring at the sand. I looked over at her before turning my gaze up at the night sky. "At least the nights here are pretty, aren't they?"

A slight smile crossed her face as she turned her eyes upwards. "They sure are."

We both gazed at the clear skies, taking in the stars as we would only have a few more hours until the sun would come up. The atmosphere was just so calming that… we didn't care if the hours just melted away.

"Who needs sleep anyways." I whispered under my breath, but in the quiet of the night, Jaina could understand me clearly.

"Yeah… you're missing too much of the beauty."

I found myself looking at her, smiling as I unintentionally started staring at her from the side.

She noticed soon and smirked. "You're not even looking at the sky anymore."

I chuckled awkwardly. "I'm aware… sorry, I didn't want to stare. Pretend it didn't happen." I waved her off as I wanted to turn away, but instead she touched my cheek and made me look at her again with her bearing a curious smile.

"Tell me, how do you think I'm doing looks-wise… compared to the females of your kind?" It was impressive how she could gently touch me like that, given that she had scaled claws for hands.

"I… I haven't really met many girls in my life. But even so, you look… amazing."

She bit her lip as she started to toy around with my armor. "And what is it exactly that you human males find attractive."

Upon hearing her question, my eyes unconsciously wandered to her voluptuous breasts. They were straining the plant fiber that kept them covered and almost bursting at the seams as they pressed together.

She followed my gaze and used her claws to lift her breasts from below. "These things? Aren't they just teats used to nurture children?"

"That's… one thing they're good for."

She cocked her head in confusion. "What else are they… *yelp*" I stopped her sentence as I could no longer hold back from groping her. The temptation was just too big to resist.

My fingers dug into her skin, squeezing her supple flesh. Jaina's lip hung open and her breath slowly picked up when I started to shove her wraps out of the way. I was entranced, overcome by my lust, and teased her nipples with my fingertips.

"Kalaydus, what are you…" Her face grew red, blushing as my touches unexpectedly caused her pleasure.

"That's the other thing. Men go crazy when they get to do this! Never imagined I'd get to be one of them."

"I… haa… I see why! It feels good to have it done to you too! Press down harder!" She hissed, ordering me to tighten my grip even more.

My hand contorted her breast while I pulled her closer to me with my other hand around her hips. We touched heads as we both were focused on her shapeshifting chest.

When we looked up, we could stare into each other's eyes longingly and our combined breaths were hot as they touched the other's skin.

"Is that what you do before you mate with your partner?" She whispered huskily.

"One of the things. There is so much more."

"Like what?" Her curiosity was peaked and she was leaning towards me, asking for more ways that we could make each other feel good.

I lifted her chin a little, making it level with mine. "Open your mouth a little."

Her lips slowly parted with her uncertain, gasping breath escaping them. I overlapped them with my own and started sucking on them as her eyes fluttered open. As if steadying herself from the new sense of stimulation, I could feel her left claw holding onto the back of my head while she put the other on my right leg.

She pulled back for a second, touching her lips in bewilderment. "What... What was that?" She muttered, sounding like she was still in a daze.

"It'scalled kissing. It's how we show our affection for someone else. Especially when we long for someone." I explained to her, caressing her body.

With her lips trembling, I could see that she wanted more of this and sure enough she pushed herself against me and returned the clumsy kiss.

Our saliva mixed and for the first time I got to realize that she had a forked tongue as it snaked around mine almost instinctively.

I was shocked at first, even though I should have expected it, but I soon found myself embracing it and not caring anymore. I felt the excitement growing in my crotch and just as a noticeable bulge formed underneath the leather, Jaina's claw that was previously on my leg slid down onto my crotch applying pressure to it as she rubbed it with her palm.

In surprise, I popped off her lips, pulling a string of saliva between us as I gasped for air with hot breath.

She smiled while her chest was heaving. I could even feel her heart beat through my hand that was still kneading the springy breast. "I just assumed this is where your… thing would be. And I thought I should go for it. It does feel good when I grope this as well, doesn't it?" She circled her tongue around her lips, scooping up our mixed spit and swallowing it.

My dick perked up, twitching as it pushed against her claw. "It definitely did its job."

"Can I see it? I really want to know what yours looks like." Her eyes were fixated on the bulge underneath her claw. She gently kept squeezing, stroking my cock and balls.

I nodded, unbuckling my armor. I dropped the entire set of leather at once while I was already at it, shedding myself of my blades, coat and greaves. All that was left were the gauntlets on my hands and lower arms, leaving me exposed to the cool night air.

My stiff cock stood up valiantly, with Jaina breaking from our groping embrace and instead kneeling down to look at it. The bridge of her nose and her cheeks were flushing with red as she returned to stroking my now bare-naked member with her sliding, scaly clawed hand. It was already as hard as it could be and the touch of her cold scales sent shivers of pleasure through me.

Slowly, I could feel her hand close around me, properly starting to jerk it. Her breath tickled my reddening, swelling tip as her claws were surprisingly doing a great job at giving me pleasure. Her scales were unexpectedly smooth and easily glided over my length as the slowly pouring precum started to make them stickier and stickier.

I let out panting breaths as I watched my cock get serviced by her with a curious and aroused look on her face. It was as if she was pondering over something in her head and I would soon find out what it was.

Her lips popped open with her hot spit parting between them before she took the tip of my member into her slippery wet mouth. There were even wafts of steam puffing up from her hot breath hitting the cold air.

"G…Ghaaaahh, Jaina! Fuuuuck…" I hissed as her tongue danced along the ridge of my tip. With her forked tongue, she licked all along the thick veins before she popped off, leaving with a kiss. She inquiringly looked up at me and when she saw what a sweating, panting mess she made of me, she smirked with an almost menacingly innocent smile.

"I knew you would love that." She chuckled with a smile so sweet and it showed me just how proud she was of figuring it out herself. She swiftly got back to sucking me off, slurping, messy sounds ringing out between her mouth and my cock.

I laid my gloved hand on the back of her head, the enjoyment of her fellatio overtaking my mind completely. I dug my fingers into her messy hair, getting a grip on it to guide her bobbing head.

She cocked and swerved her head in ways that pushed my cock against the inside of her cheeks and her gums. The soft, moisture of her mouth was enough to get me close to the edge of orgasm.

I panted, pushing her head onto my cock as rapidly as I could without hurting her. I could see in her flinching eyes that she felt my cock getting thicker and pulsing harder but she wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Swallow it!" I moan out, ripping her out of her inner struggle. "If you can… swallow all of it!"

"*suck* Mhmm!" She nodded with my dick still in their mouth. She shut her eyes expecting the load to shoot out any second.

"Right about… there! Nghghaahhhh! Haahhhh…" Her mouth closed about halfway down my shaft as her cheeks slowly puffed out a little. My load was surprisingly plentiful and it took a little while before it was all done.

I thought I had to take care of Jaina and tell her to take it slow when gulping my cum… but just as her cheeks were filling more and more, she just made one strong gulp before I watched a bump traversing down her throat.

I looked on in astonishment as the remaining white spurts of sperm covered her tongue and lips when she opened her emptied mouth.

"It wasn't… *pant* as hard as I thought.

I was just stunned as I looked at her. "You really swallowed it all. I didn't think you'd actually do that on your first time.

She smirked up at me but somewhere behind her smile was some disappointment. "What can I say, I'm a glutton for certain things." She prodded my still erect penis and sighed a little. "Usually you're supposed to shoot your stuff into me for making babies… but now we wasted it on my mouth. Aren't you disappointed?"

I almost broke out laughing. "You thought there would only be one load and I'm done?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that usual for males? It's just supposed to fertilize me and then you move on. *yelp*" She squeaked in surprise as I pulled her up onto my lap. Her eyes widened when she felt my still hard cock sandwiched between her ass cheeks and prodding the underside of her tail.

"Not with human males, Jaina. You won't get away with just this." I hooded my eyes and mischievously smiled as I ran my hand through her dirty blonde hair.

Her eyes widened as I pressed my lips against hers and lifted up her hips. Her entire body experienced a little jolt of pleasure when the head of my cock prodded her burning hot pussy. Her reptilian eyes grew foggy and hooded as she leaned into the kiss with her claws crossing behind my back and around my neck. Her entire body rested on me and I had to admit it was pretty heavy, not that I could show how hard it was for me to lift her.

Her dewy eyes met with mine and our shared body heat met its apex when her hips slowly sunk down. My cock parted her folds, slowly embedding itself inside the confines of her hot love tunnel. "Kalaydus…" She muttered quietly, her eyes shining bright in the darkness.

With an audible thud, her crotch connected with mine and with our bodies entangled we started to grind against each other. Jaina's insides squirmed around me, meeting the impatient twitching of my throbbing cock.

Our tongues met outside of our mouths since we could no longer hold them closed with our pants and moans escaping our lips relentlessly. We just couldn't stop letting out our voices. Thankfully out here on the beach we were far enough away from the jungle to not rouse up any other monsters and what little sound could be heard from a distance just blended in with the sound of the waves.

I felt Jaina's claws digging into my back and I probably already had a few red scratchmarks spreading across it. I could ignore the pain since it was outweighed massively by the thrusting of our hips and the pleasure it gave me. Our skin glistened in the moonlight with our sweat reflecting it. The stickiness between us only added to the sensation.

My hands found their way onto her bouncing ass cheeks and I groped them to my heart's content. Jaina's face was twisted in joy and pleasure. Most likely no male before ever focused on giving her pleasure and she was drinking in the attention she received.

When my hands rubbed her ass, one of them kept getting whacked by her scaly tail. I was actually curious enough to move that hand onto her tail and I started stroking it to find out if she was sensitive to it.

She was…

When she felt my hand on her tail, sliding over the slick scales, she started humping me faster and crashing into me with even grander speed. The mixture of juices between us was splashed about, spreading even farther than the stain was when we were fucking normally.

Holding her ass in place, I thrusted into her in short but deep grinding, feeling her cervix kiss the very top of my cock.

Jaina threw her head back, crying out towards the moon. "Kalaydus! I'm cumming! I'm fucking cumming! Nhhahahhhaaaa! Holy shit!"

My cock was already close to bursting and I was actually relieved to hear her say that. I didn't think I could hold back a second longer. "Me too, Jaina! Shit! It's coming!"

With all of our resistance breaking, we embraced almost painfully tight. Jaina's tail waved around, frantically waggling as she reached her orgasm. My jaw tightened as I just exploded inside of her. It felt like a dam broke loose from my cock, spraying her insides with all that I had.

Her claws could probably actually leave scars on my back with how tight she clenched them. Only after several moments were we able to relax again. The space between our crotches was bubbling with overflowing cum that dripped onto the rock.

We inhaled heavily when we tried to regain our breath. I couldn't let go of her, I was too exhausted and she probably felt the same. Her face was buried in my shoulder and even I buried mine in her voluminous hair. It smelled of mud and soil but I still relished the smell since it was hers.

We sat there for quite a while, riding out the aftermath of our climax, before we found us a bit of a more comfortable spot and laid down in the sand with our feet resting just at the edge of the shore where the water could hit them to cool us off.

Jaina was lying by my side, with my arm around her and resting on my chest while we listened to the gentle waves. We still had quite a bit of time until sunrise and no rush to get going.

We got to talking, telling each other about whatever came to our mind. At some point the topic of how she turned came up and I told her as much as I thought I knew.

I dangled the amulet that was attached to my blades over us. "…and I think this is what turned you into a semi-human. I can't explain why it does that but he told me that it would explain why he gave up hunting monsters. I still can't put the puzzle pieces together and it frustrates me to no end."

Jaina looked at it curiously, leaning up towards it and sniffing it. "It reeks of some kind of monster. I can't put my finger on which one though."

"Well, I figured as much. Don't know anything else that would have green scales like this amulet. The question is what's inside this glass container though."

"Blood?"

"Maybe. Probably. But why?"

Jaina reached up, closing my hand so that I would put it away. "Well, we know what it does. For now, I think that's enough to know. There are some mysteries that maybe should keep being what they are."

I smiled at her, tying it to my blade again and tossing it over to my pile of clothes.

"You know, I've been thinking. How about you come to the research commission with me?"

"What?" Jaina perked up and looked at me like I was mad.

"They'd do anything to get any information about this new world. And if it would come from a foreign monster with first-hand experience they'd lose their minds."

"So you're telling me that they would take in someone they've used to hunt down?"

"The commission doesn't do that for just any random monster. Only for those that cause harm or are a threat to them. Maybe if we convince them that you're peaceful, we could make a deal with them."

"Are you serious about that?"

"You want to get out of this forest, right?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then we'll find a way. If it goes down south, I'll cover you."

"Won't you get in trouble?"

"I have no reputation to lose yet. I'll find a way to talk myself out of it and after a while it'll blow over." I promised her as I laid my hand on top of her claw that was resting on my chest.

Her hand intertwined with mine and she nodded up at me. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

"Heh, no, I never do." I chuckled as I kissed the top of her head. My eyes widened when I got pieces of dirt on my lips. I wiped my mouth and spat out a small rock. "But if we DO get there, you really need of a shower."

I was met with a cocky smile and a giggle. "Nah, I never do."


	6. The search for shelter

The following morning was one that I kind of didn't want to come. I was already awake even though my eyes were still heavy. The sun glimmered over the horizon, reflecting its light into my eyes from the surface of the ocean.

Meanwhile, a drooling, semi human wyvern was snoring so loudly that I could feel my eardrums vibrate. "Gods have mercy." I flinched with every time I heard her ear grinding snores.

I rubbed my eyes and decided I had enough. It still seemed somewhat quiet around this time but when I looked some way further down the beach, I could see a herd of Kestodon peck at some crabs and oysters that were swept onto the shore.

The lack of sleep and the remaining exhaustion from last night left me with a pumping headache as the blinding light did nothing to help it go down.

I groaned as I carefully moved Jaina's claw from my bare chest. The moment I touched her claw, memories of last night flashed in front of my eyes and I couldn't keep the blood from rushing to my face in embarrassment. "Right… we did… it." My face slackened when the realization hit me. I straight up had sex with a wyvern. I had no idea how I should feel about this; proud or worried.

I let her hand go as I sat on the edge of the rock we… had sex on. My hands clench around the edge of it and my mind raced with what I should do now and how this was supposed to go from here. I promised her that the research commission would take her in. What was I thinking?! I couldn't make promises like that!

I got up to my feet, shaking my head as I decided to wash off the tiredness first before I would make any further decisions. I knelt down at the edge of the sea where the waves could just reach me.

Looking down at the clear water, it occurred to me that it has been a long time since I had a chance to look at myself. My face reflected on the surface every time the waves swept by. Over time, you tend to kind of forget what you even look like if you don't see it.

My hair was still as black as ever, being held back by the pair of goggles that came with my hunter's armor. _"Right, I forgot I even had these."_ I thought to myself as I took them down and washed the lenses. Despite them being gone, the imprint of them was still left in my hair and it was still spiking backwards and up as it always had. It was of medium length, maybe having grown a little bit longer after the last few days.

I touched my face, noticing that my formerly shaven chin and cheeks had grown a light stubble beard, just enough to see the shadow of it fade in. And lastly, I noticed the light scar on my forehead that I got when a Kelbie kicked me in the head once when I tried to sneak up on it. I was kind of glad the goggles covered it so far. If anyone asked me what I got the only substantial scar I had from, I'd probably embarrass myself to no end.

I took a scoop of water and splashed it into my face. With the water dripping down my chin, I looked over at the Kestodons who seemed to be looking my way. Even though they probably couldn't understand it, I waved them with a friendly smile on my lips. But they weren't looking directly at me and rather a bit behind me.

And I would quickly find out why as a pair of round, fleshy orbs flattened against my back and two claws threw themselves around my neck. The force of the way I got pounced almost made me fall into the water. "Ooof! *cough* Jaina?"

A chipper, energetic voice reached my ear. "What gave it away that it was me?"

"It's not like there are many other naked lizard girls out here… I think…" I chuckled, trying to hide my worries from her. "You sure sound like you slept well." I looked over my shoulder and smiled at her. The smile I got in response was on a whole new level though. It was infectiously endearing.

"The best sleep I've had in a loooong time! I've slept like a rock. I think a certain someone is to thank for that." She chirped, trailing her claws over my chest. I could feel her whole body smother against me from behind and had to be careful not to get excited again.

I craned my neck, only to have my lips pecked at by hers. It still sent a stir through my heart to kiss her but this wasn't the time to give in to temptation. We had to get going soon.

"I didn't expect you to react to my pheromones though." She said with a soft, seductive voice.

"Ph…pheromones?"

"Yeah, you didn't think you were the only one who was aroused, did you? It just happens when a male I like is around."

"Aroused? I wasn't… aroused. Your pheromones must've clouded my mind." I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I recounted everything that we had done together.

"Heheh, you can't weasel yourself out of this one. The pheromones only enhance what was already there. I didn't think they'd have an effect on you like they did. You were pretty… active back there." Her eyes scanned me from head to toe as she visibly enjoyed the sight of my still naked body. I was getting even more flustered than before.

Part of me wanted to write off last night as something that I had no control over, but I had to realize that I had to take responsibility. And honestly, I could hardly say that I didn't love it.

I sighed and let my lips melt into a smile "Guilty as charged. You looked pretty into it yourself."

"That's because I was, silly! None of the other males ever cared whether I felt good or not. But you did…" Her mouth swapped between a cute pout and a flustered smile as her arms tightened around me.

I touched her claw and carefully intertwined it with mine. But then I saw the sun slowly rising even further. I wanted this moment to last a bit longer, but we had to go.

"Jaina, we should really get our bearings now. We're gonna get noticed by the other monsters if we don't hurry."

She reluctantly stepped away, a sulking look on her face. But as she looked around, this sulkiness turned into confusion. I put my old hunter armor back on as hard as it was to do so, but Jaina just kept watching me with a puzzled look. "What am I supposed to wear? The wraps you made me are kind of… well… useless now." She blushed a little as she showed me the torn scraps of plant fiber that once covered her body up.

"Ahh, shit… well there has to be something around. Something more sturdy." I tossed that wraps into the sea as I kept my eyes open for any materials I could scrounge up to make something decent.

Jaina looked at me with a shrug. "I don't get why you need to cover up your body. I feel pretty comfortable in my skin as it is."

And just when she said that, I stopped. "Your skin. Your skin!"

"Yeah, that's what I said…" She said bewildered as I pulled her along by the hand.

"No, not that! Come with me, I need to see if it's still there!" I cried out as I led her back up the slope from the beach to the forest. We were in a hurry, but I can't meet the research commission coming out of the forest alongside a naked, semi human woman. I inspected the surroundings, checking if I could find the spot where Jaina and I had fallen down from when we fought.

And as I finally started to recognize things around me, I found what I was looking for. "Thank the gods, it's still here."

Jaina looked confused as I knelt down next to her old, shed body. It was still in one piece and nothing seemed to have touched it yet. "My old skin? What would you want with that?"

"Something that hunters have done for ages. Carve materials from it." I exclaimed as I pulled out a carving knife that came with my armor. I leaned over the thick, empty hide when I looked up at Jaina. "Do you… think you want to see this? I mean it's your old body after all."

But out of every reaction I expected, she just smirked and shrugged. "I've shed my skin so many times before. It's like a chipped claw to me at this point. Carve away, hunter." She chuckled.

"If you say so." I shrugged back as I started to cut parts from the body that I thought would make for some good clothing. I found that the belly especially was very easy to cut since the skin there wasn't that thick. After carving a diamond shaped patch out of it, I carved up some of the thickened scales from the back as well as the entirety of her old mane.

After cutting a significant chunk of materials from her hide, I piled the parts I collected onto each other and pulled some vines from the nearby trees to hold them together.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to rebuild my old body or something?" Jaina giggled, probably thinking that what I was doing looked weird. And it probably must have been from her point of view.

"No, nrrghhh… but I thought if I was already the one who got you out of your skin…" I grunted as I pulled together the parts, finishing my heavy-handed attempt to form something wearable. "…I should be the one giving it back to you. At least a part of it."

I finally cobbled together a piece of clothing made from the remnants of her scales. It was like a poncho that could cover the most part of her body. At least the parts that needed to be.

Jaina raised her arms as I signaled her to and I threw the poncho over her. The skin of her belly served as the underlying layer while her back scales made up a colorful, yellow overcoat. Her mane on the other hand was shaped into a hood that she could throw over her head before we entered the commission's headquarters.

Jaina's eyes widened as she felt the weight of her old skin again. She nostalgically touched the rim of her old mane and affectionately petted it. "Wow, this feels exactly like being my former self again." She whispered almost inaudibly.

I smiled as I saw her so visibly happy.

"Where did you learn to do this? How did you know how to make clothes like this?"

"I grew up on the countryside. If you don't know how to stitch up stuff there, you might as well go naked."

"That's amazing…" Jaina admired herself in awe and even I had to admit that the poncho made her brutish appearance a whole lot cuter. "But why the hood?"

"We might need to cover you up when we visit the commission."

"But didn't you say…"

"I know what I said, and trust me I'll do anything to get you inside. But if we don't want to scare them immediately, we should keep your identity on the down low at first."

Jaina didn't seem to like the idea at all, but she nodded reluctantly. "Well, I guess if that's how it has to be… Do you really think I'm that scary looking?"

I waved my hands in front of me in denial. "Of course not! Well… I don't. But I've gotten used to who you are; they haven't. Once we're inside, we need to find someone who will react appropriately and not cause alarm. If we convince them that we mean no harm, they'll accept you. I'm sure of it. You trust me, right?" I cupped her claws with my hands and made her look up at me.

She looked to the floor dejectedly but soon after gave me a confident smile and a nod. "Right!"

I smirked back at her as she gave me her hand and I nodded in confidence to reassure her. "Lead the way then. You know where it is, right?"

"I know EXACTLY where it is." She proclaimed proudly.

"What are we waiting for then?" Were the last words before Jaina enthusiastically ran ahead. I followed her to the best of my abilities as she pulled me along by the hand. And off we went.

After pulling me past the beach and through a patch of brush, we finally reached a massive, definitely man-made structure. A gigantic gate made from logs and ropes.

"There it is. I saw humans walking in and out of this thing before. If there's any place that looks like what you're looking for, it's this one." Jaina explained to me as I approached to gate in wonderment. I had finally found the place where I was meant to be.

After I was done admiring the massive structure I turned around to Jaina and gave her a serious look. "Alright, now should be the time for you to put your hood on. Don't worry, you'll be able to show yourself to them in due time. But for now: Slow and steady. Okay?"

"Slow and steady." She repeated to show me that she understood. "But before we have to do that, one more thing…"

"Yeah, and what's that? *smack*" I was taken aback when I felt her pair of lips meet mine. Her soft kiss was filled with a calmness that I could really use right now. I held her shoulders as I returned it and simultaneously pulled her hood over her head before I parted.

"Just a small thank you." She sighed.

I smiled and signaled her to follow me. I once again approached the gate and yelled out for whoever was in charge of it. "Hello?! Anybody there! I'm from the Fourth Fleet! I come to join the Research Commission!"

My cries rang out into the emptiness, but soon after, I heard a ruckus from the other side. "Another Fourth Fleeter coming in! Open the gates!"

With heavy creaks, the palisades began to move, swinging and crackling as they were reeled up. Jaina and I stood before the grand open entrance as a group of 10 men came at us, looking confused. I saw them having satchels of herbs and phials of potions around their belts as they arrived.

One of the men stepped forward, his eyes flicking between me and Jaina. "You're… you're alright?"

I felt around my body, looking for any signals of injuries. "Still in one piece I suppose. Why would you think I wasn't?"

"You… said you were with the Fourth Fleet, didn't you?"

"I am! I fell off the ship when we got attacked by some unknown monster or something! It was huge! Larger than anything I've ever seen or heard about!"

"We're aware…" The man looked back at his men mumbling something among them before he turned back to me with a worried look. "What about her? Is she with the Fourth too?" He asked and looked at Jaina.

"She was the one who guided me here. I met her in the forest and she knew her way around here. Her name is Jaina."

"Never heard of a scout named Jaina in our group. Are you from the First Fleet or something?"

"Umm… I…" Jaina jerked up when she was suddenly put on the spot. She was unrecognizable to the man as he tried to inspect her before I jumped in front of him to get his attention again.

"That's not important right now! What happened to the Fourth?"

The man sighed and looked away again. "You… might want to see for yourself. Follow me to Astera. We'll explain everything there."

The group of men led the way, visibly anxious and confused.

I heard a sigh of relief from behind me as I could basically feel the trembling of Jaina's lips. I reached behind me and carefully took Jaina's hand, making sure that none of the men saw it.

Jaina gulped and followed me as I guided her by the hand and followed the men that led me to my and hopefully OUR new home: Astera.

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[And here we are. The true start of the story. I've read through your reviews so far and wanted to say that I'm glad you guys seem to be so positive about this story and the criticism so far has been very fair. I'll try to take any further criticism into consideration when going on with this series, so feel free to let me know of anything that I could do better in.

That said, I hope you stick around. Things are just starting to get going and there will be a lot more monsters, quests and smut ahead. I'll do my best to make it as satisfying as possible in every aspect.

Speaking of monsters, I'd like to give a shout-out to an author named 'Serendipitous House Pet'. He's doing a kind of lexicon on Anthro Monster Hunter monsters simply called: Monster Girl Guide.

He agreed to work together with me and will fill his guide with entries that describe the attributes and behaviors of the monsters that will be featured in my story. It's basically a kind of character reference in case you need to catch up.

So thanks to him and thanks to you for reading. I'll see you soon when things will really start to heat up!]


	7. Ready as I'll ever be

When the group of men led the way to Astera, me and Jaina kept holding hands. I could feel that despite her strength, she was still anxious and maybe even scared of the new environment.

I followed the men, many of which were murmuring between each other, though I had no idea if it was about me and Jaina, or something entirely different.

We would only take one more turn past some coastal rock formations before we finally saw it: Astera.

When we got our first view of it, our eyes widened in speechlessness. From the steep bay up to a high mountaintop stretched a huge assortment of wooden mechanisms and walkways. It was a lot to take in at once, but there were a few landmarks that stuck out like a sore thumb even in a sea of things to be amazed by.

An enormous water mill was built underneath a rushing waterfall that kept long chains in motion which were used to transport wares as well as people. The very peak of the mountain this headquarters was built at was an airship, not unlike the one I arrived on. But as I looked closer, I could see that it was donning the sail of the Second Fleet. In fact, the whole camp was made out of broken ships and stranded hulls. The research commission must've scrapped whatever they could make use of and it oddly seemed to work like a well-oiled machine. Even from a distance I could see that the camp was bustling with people.

And even though I've never been here…

…I could tell that it was more hectic than usual.

We approached a huge arch of rib bones that must have belonged to a huge monster. Though whether it was here before or the commission constructed it, I couldn't tell. Past the arch of bones was a sturdy rope bridge. The last thing that separated us from the camp of Astera.

"Here we are. I'd recommend you talk to the commander once you're inside. He'll… have a lot to discuss with you." His eyes intriguingly wandered to Jaina who was still holding my hand but quickly hid her claw in her poncho when the man looked our way.

"Does the commander usually greet newcomers in person?" I asked worriedly.

His brows furrowed and he crossed his arms as he looked at me. "Only the curious ones. If you have nothing to hide, everything will be fine and you can join the hunters just like everyone else who arrives here. You'll be given a task and if you deliver good work, you'll go far here. There's no shortage of work to be done. Especially after…" He looked at the ground, visibly troubled and disturbed.

"After… what?"

He looked back up at me with a serious and saddened look. "Remember when I told you, you would see why we were so confused when we picked you up and you were unhurt?"

"Yeah?"

"Now you will." He said as he signaled me to follow him over the bridge. The ropes and wood were strong but I still couldn't shake the weird fear of falling down with the drop below leading to a deep drop and the waves crashing into the rocky shoreline.

But that fear was a thing of the past when a horror much greater was laid out before me. After crossing the bridge and entering Astera, there were rows and rows of makeshift beds. All filled with men and women from the fourth fleet. I even recognized some of their faces. Several of them were the recruits from my old ship.

The color drained from my face as I heard their cries of pain. My eyes hastily darted around the isles of wounded that were being tended to by researchers and medics that were way too understaffed and underequipped to handle this many people.

Their wounds reached from crippled limbs to large gashes but all of them had something in common: their wounds were steaming and their bodies were feverishly red.

"This is what I meant." The man who guided us explained. "We've been getting newcomers nonstop since yesterday. A big chunk of them came in as a group at first, but even they told us that the rest of the crew from the Fourth Fleet was scattered and nowhere to be found. One after another we got new cases of arrivals with all sorts of injuries to treat. The wounds themselves are one thing… but they all also suffer from fire blight. Usually it would only last a few moments but theirs doesn't seem to end. They're burning up inside and every bit of movement gives them excruciating pain. And here you came along. Not even as much as a scar on you. Do you understand now why we need to question you?" He said as he presented us the extend of the aftermath that the attack on our ship had.

Sweat was running down my forehead and even Jaina seemed to be distraught by the sight of the trembling victims.

I ran up to one of the beds, falling onto my knees next to one of the wounded. "You! I've seen you on the ship before! Do you remember our mentor? Sullivan? Where is he? What happened?!"

"GAAAGGHHH! You…you're that rookie that came with us, aren't you? Brrghghhh! I was one of the other mentors. I saw you training before. Man, it went downhill so fast! After you fell from the ship, all hell broke loose. We kept getting bombarded by this… thing! A mountain of a monster. A walking fucking volcano! The ship caught fire and everything went up in flames! But that was no ordinary fire! I didn't just cinch your clothes or burned your hair off, it was like it burned right through your soul. It carried fire blight at a strength that I've never seen before. Many of us jumped overboard to safe themselves from the barrage. I don't know how many of them died. But me and the other mentors stayed on board until the sails could no longer keep us airborne. We crashed somewhere deep in the forest. The only survivors were me… and Sullivan. YAAAAHHAGGGGGH!" He held his sides, enduring who knows how much pain. His body was dripping with sweat and even just talking seemed to hurt like getting a hot iron pressed to his skin.

"Sullivan! Where is he? Please! Tell me!"

"He's crazy I tell you. Said he'd walk the pain off and just visited the commander. You'll find him there. Now leave me alone before it really starts to… AAARGHHH!" A nurse quickly came to his side, replacing my spot next to the bed.

I ran back to Jaina, shaking her out of her petrified daze. "Jaina!"

"Kalaydus? What's going on? I don't know what's happening here." Jaina hugged herself underneath the poncho and I could tell that all this panic was making her nervous.

"I know, I know! Look at me. Keep breathing. We need to stay calm. I have to find Sullivan. He's the only man I know who can help us right now. I've been on a ship with him before and he trained me for a while before we were attacked. He's with the commander, so we might have a chance to explain everything to him."

Mains took a deep breath before she faced me again with determination sparkling in her eyes. "Alright. Where to?"

"Every hunter's guild has a conference table to plan out strategies. It shouldn't be too hard to find." I frantically looked around, scanning the ground floor of Astera for any signs of a present leader. Standing on my tiptoes, I could make out a grizzled old man with a stoic face and short grey hair. He slammed his hand on a large, heavy table and I could see his mouth move as he bellowed out commands for his subordinates. That had to be the man I was looking for.

"This can't be! We prepared for every possible situation. How the hell can we be out of blight medicine?" He bellowed out as his fist slammed onto the table. Several lists and maps were scattered across it and crumpled underneath his hand.

"Sir! When we said we were prepared for every situation, I don't think any of us had in mind that there could be a walking volcano that could wipe out an entire fleet. We used everything we had and the Fifth Fleet isn't coming for another few months!" A strategist trembled in her boots, as she tried to explain the problematic situation. She had long, black hair that was bound together underneath a feathered, green cap that went with her overall green strategist outfit with a brown vest and brown knee-high boots. Her face, behind a pair of rimmed glasses, lacked any color and sweat dripped from the side of her forehead.

"Then we have to make do with what we have around us! When can we send out a scout team to scavenge for more medicine? There has to be something we can scrounge up!"

"I'm afraid we can't, sir. Several hunter teams are already out hunting or scouting the land and almost every member of staff that is left is either useless in battle, inflicted with fire blight or a palico. And we can't send out palicoes on their own without a hunter to defend them from the bigger threats."

"Goddammit!" The commander gritted his teeth and threw several pieces of paper off the table. "We can't wait for the hunters to get back, let alone wait for the A-list hunters in the Fifth Fleet. If this keeps up, we might lose even more men to the blight." His subordinates were at a loss for words. They must've never seen him this defeated before. When he faced the table, he spotted me out of the corner of his eyes and lifted his gaze. "Wait… who are you?"

I stood at attention as I heard his demanding voice while Jaina hid behind me and tried to not divert any attention to herself. "I'm Kalaydus, sir. Crew member of the Fourth Fleet reporting for duty. A man at the gate said that you would want to see me personally."

His mouth slackened in disbelief. "If you really were with the Fourth like you claim, I understand why they would think I'd want to see you. Everyone, I'd like to have a word with our new arrival. Privately."

"Very well, commander. I shall see the subordinates to their quarters." The strategist bowed and politely signaled the other people around the table to follow her. When she moved to resign to the quarters, she stopped before me as I unintentionally blocked her path.

"Oh, my apologies miss." I raised my arms and stepped aside.

"No need for apologies. You can refer to me as Guild Marm. Most in this camp refer to me with this name. It makes it much simpler to remember than a usual name." She smiled benevolently and once again bowed slightly before guiding the group of advisors to their rooms.

I stepped closer to the table, facing the commander across from me. His posture was strong and unwavering as he held his hands behind his back and inspected me. "You seem unhurt."

"I've noticed that that's pretty uncommon around here, I know. I've been knocked off my ship during the attack and through a string of lucky events survived the fall mostly unharmed."

"That is indeed a rare commodity right now. Most men from the Fourth weren't that lucky as you can see. Don't you think that's a little odd? You are the only one in your group that survived the crash and didn't sustain any major injuries. Is it really just coincidence?" His eyes were sharp and full of distrust.

"I swear to you, sir. Whatever you think right now, I've had nothing to do with it! What are you accusing me of? That I'm working and scheming with the elder dragons?" I plant my hands on the table and stare at the commander but he was as unmoving as a rock.

"Settle down, hunter. I'm not accusing you of anything as of now. I will however keep my eyes on you. Sullivan has claimed you were quite an odd one and I'm taking his word for it."

My eyes widened. "Sullivan? Where is he? I've trained under him!"

"So I've heard. And he told me not to trust you. There are just too many strange phenomena surrounding you. Like the effect you had on monster skin."

I stepped away from the table and took on a more submissive tone. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you that it all happened by chance, would you?"

He calmly shook his head. "No. I've gotten enough scars from trusting 'chance'. Anyways, Sullivan is placed in intensive care. That fool thought he could take over hunting errands while half of his body got charred. He's one of the worst cases of fire blight around here."

"Then we need to help him! He needs to know that I'm not a deserter!"

The commander nodded in agreement as a sigh left his lips. "You want to help him? You'll get a chance. Luckily for you, I'm in need of a hunter. We're out of blight medicine and it will keep wearing down more and more of our hunters if we don't get new stock. We're cut off from all supply lines and the land surrounding us is unexplored and uncharted. We have no idea where to look for ingredients. We require something called nulberries. Their juices negate any kind of blight one could imagine."

"So we need to find out if any of them grow in the forest, right? Do you have maps? A guide?"

"We only have one thing. We've had cartographers map out the surrounding area when we built Astera." He slipped me a large piece of paper which pictured the overlay of the area around the huge tree out in the forest. I could make out a few locations like the deeper thickets and the beach. But this tree reached even farther than even I suspected. It was like it was the centerpiece of the forest and the rest of the trees were just greenery that grew on its roots.

When I looked it over, I suddenly felt something tug at my arm. "I know where they are." It was Jaina.

Me and the commander turned our attention towards her, with him being made even more suspicious when I started talking to her. "What are you talking about?"

She hesitantly approached the table, keeping her appearance hidden underneath her poncho.

"A friend of yours?" He asked with crossed arms.

"You could say that." I vaguely answered him. "What did you say, Jaina?"

"Those berries you're looking for… they're blue, right?"

The commander raised an eyebrow in confusion. "They… are. Why are you asking."

"I know where they grow!" She asserted herself, trying not to show her anxiousness.

He was clearly taken aback by that statement and planted his hand on the table with full attention. "I don't know who you are… Jaina. But we're desperate and don't have much time. What do you know?"

"These 'nulberries grow in a clearing deep within the forest. A lot of monsters go there when they got into a fight and got sick. If those are the ones you're talking about, I know how to get there."

"That's an awful lot of knowledge of the wildlife you got there. How did you learn that? We've been here for only a couple of weeks, so you're clearly not one of our team."

I trembled nervously as Jaina was once again forced to explain herself. I was prepared for the worst, but apparently she must've learned to be vague from listening to me talk my way out of these situations. "It's mostly instinct. I kind of see the connections in the ecosystem. I guess…" She stuttered uncertainly and I honestly couldn't blame her. I wouldn't have had a better excuse.

"Instinct, huh? Well, and all those years, I thought I had that myself. Either way, I'll let you have your secrets. Gods know I've got plenty enough of my own. Well, since you two seem to be pretty compatible already and in on something I'm apparently not supposed to know, I suppose I should send you two out together. You there, just point on the map where this clearing is so we can assemble a supply package depending on how long it's going to take you."

Jaina nodded underneath her hood and watched as the commander shoved the map towards her. It went better than I expected, except… she's supposed to point at it.

My eyes shot open as I watched Jaina step close to the table.

"It's right…"

"JAINA, WAIT!"

"…here."

It seemed like time froze. I was standing there stiffly, and the commander wasn't much better.

Right on the table, just like she was ordered to do, was Jaina's heavy claw… pointing out a spot on the map.

The commander's mouth hung open in speechlessness and his eyes slowly wandered from the yellow claw up the arm of its owner.

It took Jaina a second, but as she noticed our silence, and most of all our reaction, she perked up. She bit her lip, noticing that she messed up massively, and rapidly pulled back her claw to stuff it into her poncho.

For several moments none of us said anything, but I could see in the eyes of the commander that he was wrecking his brain over what he just saw. "So…" And he was the first one of us to speak up.

"…you will need the average care package then. A few rations and potions should do it."

"You're not going to…" I wanted to speak up, but he signaled me to shut up immediately.

"Nobody else has seen… this yet. Right?" He cocked his head, pointing at Jaina as he asked me.

"We've made sure that nobody did."

"Good… Make sure it stays that way. Now everything makes a lot more sense." He rubbed his chin as he circled the table.

"You know?"

"I do. I knew that I've heard of that effect you had before. For now, you've got your task. You and your… friend go and find the nulberries. I'll ask you to hurry and once you're done… come and see me. Both of you. You'll get your supplies at the resource center. Go!"

"Sir…"

"I said go!" He once again yelled before he turned his back to us. "We'll discuss this when you get back. Let the resource team assign each of you one of the Mernos on my order. They're strong wingdrakes that can carry you and Jaina in and out of camp effortlessly."

Me and Jaina looked at each other with neither of us knowing what to say other than: "Yes, sir."

"You have your secrets, I have mine. Now for fucks sake. Get going!" He once hammered it in and blurted his order as we hastily scrambled to get to the resource center.

We kept a low profile as we once again passed the wounded people and the bustling camp center. Once we were sure that there was nobody who wasn't too busy to listen.

"We… what was that?" Jaina finally cracked and threw herself against me with a frightened expression.

I grabbed her shoulders to calm her down but I could hardly keep calm myself as I scratched the back of my head. "I wish I knew, Jaina! I… I don't know. Listen, we can make this right. The commander didn't seem to mean harm to you, he won't hurt us… I think. We'll figure this out. You really know where these berries grow, right?"

She nodded vehemently. "I do. I've been there before when I got burned or shocked and felt better every time."

"Great." I took a deep, relaxed breath as I pulled Jaina into a soft hug. I thought me and her could really use that right now. "If we get this right, we'll gain their trust here and maybe when they learn about who you are, they'll remember what we did for them."

"I sure hope so." She sighed as she carefully looked around before wrapping her arms around me. "I'm glad you're with me."

I snickered and smiled down at her. "Same here, Jaina. So… ready to go on our first quest?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

We took a few moments as we stood there in each other's arms. We could really use a moment of rest. It was only reluctantly that we finally managed to part and head for the resource team.

Since Jaina didn't have one, I filled my pouch with our supplies and ordered two Mernos for us.

We both stood at the poles that they were tied to and got a rope wrapped around us. We looked at each other uncertainly and I encouragingly showed Jaina a thumbs-up. She nodded and relaxed while I couldn't feel my knees anymore.

The Mernos took off into the air with us tied to their talons. First one of them lifted up Jaina, causing her to yelp in surprise as she clung to the rope and then the other took off, carrying me along with it.

We took off into the air, with a sudden ecstatic adrenaline rush hitting us. We were flying!"

The midday sun was burning from the sky as we glided through the air. We could see each other as we started to laugh from the excitement.

I grabbed the rope with one hand while pumping the other towards the skies. "WOOOHHOOOOOOO!"

And subsequently, I could hear a roaring yell from Jaina. "RAAAHHAAAAAA!"

I couldn't help but smile as we soared through the air. It was one of these moments that nobody could take from us and we were making our first steps as hunters. Our first assignment. Maybe not a flashy one, but everyone has to start somewhere. At least there's not much that could go wrong.

Right?

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[From that subtle hint, you could probably guess that there will be something that goes wrong. I want to introduce another monster encounter and haven't yet decided which one it's going to be. Feel free to leave suggestions. The monster doesn't have to be from MHW, but it should be one that makes sense to appear in the Ancient Forest.

Next up will be the first quest. A gathering quest like those that any hunter starts out with. Hope you'll look forward to it as well as the new monster that will be featured, whichever it's going to be.

Chapters from here on out will be longer but less frequently posted. Once a week probably. Since the plot gets started now, I want to build on the world and the characters more. And there will be lots of smut coming, trust me.

Leave a review of what you thought, follow and favorite if you like my stories and I'll see you soon.]


	8. Frenemies

"Let's see: first aid meds, rations, whetstones, a fishing rod? A bug net? A… BBQ spit? What does this guy think we're doing? A camping trip?" I said to myself as I rummaged through the care package and Jaina scanned our surroundings. She would notice danger way sooner than I would after all.

"Oh hey, look at that."

"Is there something useful after all?" Jaina asked without taking her eyes off the surrounding area while shielding her sight from the sun with her claw on her forehead.

I pulled out a phial with a cork stuffed into it. There were little sparks flying inside of it and when I looked closer, I noticed that it was something I'd seen before. "There are flash flies in here. Had many of those back home when they were gathering over the fields. My dad always used to tell me to never get too close to them."

After being sure that there was nothing unusual going on, Jaina knelt next to the care package with me. "Why?"

"Well, when you disturb them, they flash up their lights. That's what gave them their name. The light is so damn bright that it makes you blind for a while." I twisted the phial, looking at the calm insects swirling around inside.

"That sounds… fun? But why would the commander put them in this glass and put it into your bag?"

I was wondering the same thing, but as I turned my arm along with the phial, my slinger came into view and it clicked in my mind. "I wonder…" I flipped the phial around and loaded it into the slinger. The string stretched all the way to the back until it was locked in and the phial fit perfectly. "There you go."

Jaina was still a little confused as she gently tapped the phial. "So you can put it in the… stretchy thing. What's the use in that?"

"Well, if it can blind me, it can probably blind a monster. I shoot it, it breaks, the flies get disturbed and boom, giant flash."

Jaina's face lit up in understanding. "Ahhh, now I get it. But won't it blind us too? I mean you said it blinds you."

"Just don't look their way when they flash, it's as simple as that." I smiled cheekily as I playfully flicked her nose when she closely inspected the phial, making her giggle. The bag went back on my belt with all the stuff that was inside except the flash flies.

"It's really weird how all that stuff fits inside there. I mean a bug net and a fishing rod fit in this little thing." Jaina said as she admired the tiny pouch that looked hardly filled.

"Yeah, right? You'd almost think it was a bottomless pit. Eh, whatever, we should get going. Time is not really on our side."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Right this way, Kalaydus." She announced chipperly as she proudly took the first steps towards the forest. She still kept an eye out and checked around every corner, but she seemed a lot more comfortable than last time.

She had a strut in her walk and took a deep breath as she led the way. "Hey, Kalaydus?"

"Yeah?"

"You know what's weird? After seeing how stressful it was in Astera… I'm feeling kind of relieved to be out here again."

"Heh, I don't think that's the standard. Both places have their low points. When we resolve this, it should be a lot calmer."

"No, I don't think it should."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why? I thought you were relieved to get away from that."

Climbing over roots and shoving brush aside, she slowed down to walk by my side. "I know, but I need to challenge myself a bit more. I'm strong already, but if I can't even face a single conversation with a human I might as well be as weak as your kind is. No offense."

"None taken. I actually kinda like that about you. God knows I have a lot more challenges to face." I chuckled and walked closer to Jaina, giving her a little nudge. "Maybe we could be the survival guide for each other. Ya know? I show you how to survive social interaction and you show me how to get tougher. Deal?"

"Oh, it's so definitely a deal." She nudged me back and shot me a cheery, close-eyed smile. Her nudge though, almost knocked me over but as fast as she bumped into me, she caught my wrist and kept me from it. "Whoops, sorry. Hehe."

I cough and smile as she pulls me back up. "Nah, I should've seen that coming. I forget how strong you are sometimes."

After getting me back on my feet, we stood closely together with my hand inside of her massive claw. "Is that also one of the things you like about me?"

"Maybe it is. I'll leave that for you to figure out." I chuckled and signaled her to lead the way. With a little blush, she turned away and once again got back on track.

Man, did that really hurt though.

It didn't take us long until we reached the far end of the forest. Lots of little critters were hiding in the bushes and weird, prehistoric birds in beautiful colors climbed around on the trunk of the ancient tree. The sunlight illuminated the undergrowth through the patterns of leaves and Jaina picked up the pace as we were apparently getting closer to where she wanted to lead us to.

"Just around this corner! Come on, Kalaydus! We're almost there!"

I had trouble keeping up with her, since she was dancing through the thicket like it was her own personal playground. "Just wait a second, alright? I don't know this place like you do!" I constantly kept getting whacked in the face by leaves and twigs that she brushed past. There really was no stopping her. I lost her sight for a moment as I was shielding myself from the attack of the greenery until we apparently broke past a thin barrier of vines and out into a large, open clearing.

Glad to not constantly get smacked, I took a moment to take a breather. When I combed back the hair that had messily fallen into my face though, I was awestruck.

"Tadaa! It's right there! Just like I told you! I know this place better than the stuff that's stuck in my hair." Jaina proudly proclaimed with a flashy pose as my mouth was still gaping.

It was like a little paradise hidden within a chaotic landscape. The sunshine that formerly only faintly breaking through the tree was now beaming into this little area thanks to a circular, large hole in the branches of the ancient tree. It was thanks to this apparently that there were all sorts of berries and nuts growing here alongside herbs and fresh, green grass. You could've mistaken it as someone's herb garden.

I could see Aptonoth and Kestodon grazing and eating their fill from the plentiful amounts of food around them. With a huge, empty husk of an old, dead branch of the tree closing up the path towards the beach area, there was just enough crawlspace left for smaller herbivores to come here and feed without being disturbed.

"I snuck in here sometimes when I felt hungry myself. It's the perfect spot to hide from the other monsters and have a snack."

"So you eat herbs and grass too?"

"Ummm… maybe if I needed to heal up a bit but… usually… y'know…" Jaina abashedly scratched her neck as she cocked her head in the direction of the herd of Aptonoth.

"Oh… I see. I mean I get it, Aptonoth meat IS pretty tasty."

"I know, right! And when you get it all in one piece and the flavor slowly emerges in your stomach, it's pure heaven!" She was almost drooling with her pupils nostalgically going cross-eyed.

"Wait… what? Emerging in your stomach?"

"Well yeah, I used to swallow them whole and then the tangy muscles and chewy fat would slowly dissolve in my belly. That's where the real flavor kicked in. Ahh, I can still remember the taste. Mmmhh…"

I shook my head as I tried to shake the thought process out of my head where I saw her unhooking her jaw and managing to cramp a whole Aptonoth inside her. "So… when I was hanging in those vines back then… and you were pulling on my leg instead of biting pieces off of me…"

She immediately snapped out of her daze and waved her arms in defense. "I would've swallowed you alive, I know! Forget that that happened! In my defense, I thought you were dead."

"Not sure if that makes the thought of being digested alive any more pleasant."

"I wouldn't try that again! I promise!" She clenched her claws near her chest and it almost looked like she had apologetic tears in her eyes.

"Ahh, stop looking at me like that. I didn't think you would. It's still a little bit chilling to think about though… rrghghh." My body was shaking in discomfort when I had the image in my head.

Jaina clenched her claws even harder and shut her eyes as she blurted her words out. "I said forget about it! I wouldn't have done it if I knew you like I do now." Towards the end, she started sulking and crossed her arms dejectedly.

Her looked down at the ground, pouting and with embarrassment written all over her face.

I gave her a little smirk to cheer her up and unfolded her arms gently. "I know that. I'm just messing around. You're about to be my personal hero now, so lighten up a little, okay?" I playfully tapped my finger against her chin and she met my smile with her own as her pouting lips melted away.

I felt her squeeze my hands and her beaming happiness returned once again. "Alright, the berries are over there, you can't miss them. Right in the middle of the other ones."

I followed her over to a patch of berry bushes with all sorts of colored berries. Nulberries were naturally blue, so I knew exactly what to look for when I found a row of bushes that they grew on. My pouch, among many other usually impossible to fit stuff, contained several cylindrical containers for the berries. It didn't matter whether or not they were whole or mashed as long as the juices were intact., so I could fit as many berries into it as the space of the container allowed.

There were 5 containers altogether and I had no idea how many people were suffering from fire blight back in Astera. I decided that it would be better to pack too much instead of too little since we could always stock this stuff and use it later and set out to fill all of the containers to the brim.

"Here, Jaina. You fill these two and I take care of the other…" When I turned to her though, I was left speechless, seeing her prone on the ground, sneaking through the tall grass.

I must've made an expression somewhere between confusion and hilarity when I saw her wholeheartedly focusing on looking straight ahead towards the Aptonoths. "What… the… hell are you doing?"

"These things used to be really scared of me. I'll just give them a quick reminder to not get too comfortable. All this talk about eating made me hungry. I'm gonna get us some nice, juicy meat." I could see her salivating at her teeth as she snaked through the grass much like she used to move in her monster form.

A chuckle burst through my lips as I watched her, butt in the air, crawling towards the herd, completely undetected by them. I thought this was worthwhile to see turned my attention to her while I picked off berries on the side.

She moved with slow, smooth movements and came ever so close to the herd which was still busy with stuffing their cheeks with grass.

I finished filling up my first container when Jaina finally reached them. She was completely still, waiting until one of the smaller Aptonoth strayed a bit from the herd to chew on the patch of grass that she hid in. It was completely clueless, and came closer. Closer. And then…

"Raaahhhh!" Jaina jumped out of hiding and burst out in the most threatening roar she could muster. She lunged into the air as the Aptonoth could do nothing but stare in surprise and shock. I was impressed. She might actually would've been able to slay it.

She swings her heavy claw over her head, striking at the Aptonoth's back and leaving huge gashes from there, down to its gut. Jaina had a look of ecstasy and excitement in her eyes as she struck down the herbivore.

The strike clearly left it weak and I was even sure that it was the only strike necessary to kill it.

But just before her prey fell onto the ground…

"MOOOOOOOOO…

…OOOOOOOOOOO…

…Oooooooooooooo"

It left out a painful, echoing scream that panicked the other monsters. Kestodon and Aptonoth noticed the new threat and quickly spit out their food before stampeding out of the clearing. They were almost stumbling over each other as they escaped through the various crawlspaces.

The Aptonoth that Jaina hunted though, fell over and didn't make any further signs of moving.

Jaina was breathing heavily as the rush of adrenaline went through her. When she snapped out of her rush, she dislodged her claw from the thick hide of her prey and a joyous smile appeared on her lips. With wide eyes she looked over to me and I greeted her smile with mine.

"I did it! I still got it! Yes!" She pumped a fist with an enthusiastic little bounce.

I was too distracted for a moment to even think about the mission we two were supposed to carry out right now. I just couldn't bring myself to miss the radiant happiness she emanated. Never imagined that at some point in my life, seeing someone else slay a monster would send a sweet lightning through my heart. I guess it's just one of these unexplainable phenomena that happen once in a lifetime.

In this happy moment though… we forgot something. This place was only so peaceful because none of the more dangerous monsters knew it was there. But with the cries of the Aptonoth having rung out into the forest, we had no idea who or what might have heard it.

We would know soon…

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

Heavy, thundering thuds vibrated in the air. Leaves were falling off the trees from being slightly shaken. The large empty husk of a log that closed off the area was creaking and cracking from something that approached it from the other side.

Jaina turned her head to said log along with me and I could see from her widening eyes that it couldn't mean anything good.

"Jaina? What's coming? Can you smell it? Jaina?" I hastily tried to call out to hear, suppressing my voice so that only she could hear it. But she couldn't answer. Her legs were trembling and her eyes shaky as she stared head on into the direction where the thuds came from.

Some kind of large monster was coming.

A brief pause.

We didn't hear anything…

…until the steps were back, grew heavier and came closer fast.

I almost faceplanted when I got up to my feet and made a run for Jaina. "GET DOWN!" I tackled her out of her petrified stance and jumped out of dodge with her in my arms.

A split second later, a huge slam could be heard, followed by splinters flying everywhere. Pieces of bark zipped through the air like razorblades and got stuck in the sides of other trees while we avoided most of the projectiles coming our way.

When we could finally look up again, there was a huge, wheezing wyvern looming over us. It was massive with two strong hind legs that it was standing on while its front legs were short and underdeveloped. It had a rose colored, hot skin with the exception of its back and its long, muscular tail which were covered in thick, black fur. It fletched its sharp rows of piercing teeth with some of them even placed on the outside of its lower jaw. The most unusual thing about this monster though, was that it had flaring nostrils that stretched out from the tip of its snout that was dripping with a sort of liquid-y slime.

Jaina and I laid next to each other, leaning on our elbows as we couldn't do anything but stare at this beast.

A low rumble emanated from its throat before it raised its head to let out a gut-wrenching roar that made the earth underneath us shake.

"Run! RUN!" Jaina yelled at me as she pushed me to get up and book it.

Just in the nick of time, we jumped into the brush, barely escaping as this thing slammed its heavy head onto the ground and tried to smash us with it.

Disappearing into a thicket, Jaina and I had a moment to breathe before the monster would notice that we were still here. "Holy shit, what is that thing!? A brute wyvern?"

"Remember when I told you that I can't spit poison, shoot lightning or breathe fire?"

"Yes?"

"That's the one that breathes fire. We can't fight it, Kalaydus. I've tried so many times and it almost killed me. I can't face it like this!" Jaina pushed herself against the trunk of a tree in a fit of panic.

I grabbed her shoulders. "Hey, look at me. Look at me! I need you to stay with me here! We have no choice in this. We need to get out there."

"But… with her out there…"

"I just said we have no choice. We can't stay here. It's one against two this time. We can make it. We have to! People will die!"

"I know! I know! I just don't know how!"

Meanwhile, the monster outside seemed to start looking for us. I could hear it tear up the clearing and knocking over smaller trees. We didn't have much more time.

"Look, since we're together, we can use that against it. We need to confuse it and strike it from different angles. Your strength alone won't cut it, but if we strike one after another, we can wear it down and maybe even defeat it. Are you with me, Jaina?"

She gulped and shut her eyes but vehemently nodded. "But how am I going to hurt it? I don't have a weapon and my claws can't cut through its hide."

I unsheathed my dual blades and pushed one of them into Jaina's hand. She looked down at the sword and then up at me in bewilderment. "Now you do." I said with a nod before we were finally caught.

The wyvern opened its jaw and lodged its teeth into the tree we were hiding behind, ripping out of the ground with roots and everything that was attached to them.

With the tree stuck in its jaw, it looked down at us like some uncovered insects. Its eyes narrowed angrily.

With a twist of its neck, it held the tree like a bat in its mouth and was ready to take a swing.

"Now should be the time where we split up!" I shouted at Jaina before we both bolted and ran in two different directions. Jaina up a plateau and me into the field of grass and greenery.

In between us, the monster broke the tree it carried in half by slamming it onto the ground and dragging it across. The tree itself was nothing but broken wood after that.

The wyvern frustratingly crunched up whatever was left of the tree and decided to go after me. I was cornered against a thicket that I couldn't push through and was forced to face it.

I brandished my sword and tried to forget my fear of the massive creature. Wielding only one sword instead of two felt awfully uneven but it would have to do. The blade that I usually held with only one hand, I could now grab with both of them which put a lot more weight into my swings.

The wyvern growled as it faced me, ready to once again barrel towards me. Slime dripped from its nostrils and I could feel its hot breath hit my skin.

"Well, who's gonna make a move first?" I asked it tauntingly as I waited for it to attack.

Apparently, it worked because shortly after, it lowered its head in preparation to ramming me with its hardened skull. This was my chance.

With brute wyverns that was the thing you could always count on. Aimless, unstopping moves that just had them run blindly in one direction, hoping they would hit something.

Well, I wasn't going to let it.

I dodged out of its way as its head plowed through the earth. The moment it passed me by, I pushed my feet into the loosened earth and lunged back the way I came from and plunged my blade into the monster's strong leg.

It cried out in pain as it realized that it was hit and with my sword stuck in its muscles, it cramped up, stumbled and crashed onto the ground. Laying on its side, it struggled aggressively to get up again, kicking its legs and scrambling about with its short arms.

Meanwhile I was sticking onto its upturned side with my sword twisting inside of its leg. It wouldn't stay down forever so I had to strike while the iron was hot. I grabbed onto its black fur that I could barely reach so I could use my other hand to pull the sword out and repeatedly slice into it again.

It was seriously annoyed now and finally managed to kick me off. It sustained major injuries and was visibly hurting but nonetheless it got up with a vengeance and focused on me. Its eyes were bloodshot and its nostrils puffing with steam.

It wasn't a good sign.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened. A pair of leathery sails extended from its back, fanning from side to side as it let out an angry, terrifying roar.

But even more worrying than that was that the slime it excreted was apparently flammable. Its throat, where the slime came from, glowed in a hot red that pushed through the already hot pink scales even. It was like a seething fire rested within its throat and I could imagine what it was going to use it for.

It dug its claws into the ground. Craned its neck up and shot steam from its nostrils. And then it opened its jaw, unleashing a beam of fire that quickly barreled towards me. The fire was already burning in my eyes as I had no way to get out of the way in time. I shielded my face and braced for the impact.

Even through my shut eyelids, I could see the red glare of the fire and soon afterwards its force knocked me backwards until my body was pinned against another tree. A burning pain went through my limbs and it felt like my very soul was being burned to a crisp. My armor must've had holed burned into it already. At the very least in the parts that were made from leather. The iron on the other hand, started to get hot as well and singed my skin.

The fire didn't let up and kept pushing me against the tree. But then suddenly… it stopped rather sporadically. I caught my breath, hardly believing that apart from a massive burn, I didn't die.

And then I looked up from my defensive stance. And there I saw something incredible.

"No, you fucking don't! I won't let you do this to him as well!" Jaina was hanging from the side of the wyvern's head, her blade lodged into its skull while her free claw was stuck right over the eye of the monster. The wyvern, visibly infuriated, flailed around, trying to shake Jaina off its head.

I was weak, and my legs almost gave in after the hit I had taken. My armor was filled with burn holes and subsequently my skin underneath was partially charred black. Nonetheless I couldn't collapse. Not now.

I put in all of my strength to move and aimed my arm at the wyvern with my slinger clicking into action. "Jaina! Close your eyes!"

Jaina hastily looked towards me and saw what I was planning to do. She nodded and tightly shut her eyes.

The phial of flash flies that was loaded into my slinger shot out of my slinger and zipped towards the wyvern that was aimlessly shooting fire into the air. Moving its head one more time to try and get rid of Jaina, it unconsciously broke the phial with its head.

I shielded my eyes with my hand and even through both my eyelids and my fingers I could see the flash of light.

"It worked!" Jaina's voice alerted me that it was time to look again. And it actually did work.

The creature's eyes weren't focusing on anything and it was stumbling about blindly. Now was our chance.

"Hit it! Hit it one more time!"

Jaina understood and unlike what I expected, she didn't use her blade… but instead brandished her claw.

"This is personal, bitch!" She scratched the wyvern right across the eye, making it panic and run ahead without seeing anything.

I jumped out of the way as it crashed into the tree that I was pushed up against. From the heavy impact, a net of leaves and vines dropped down from above and with the thorny vines hooking into the ground, the monster was pinned and the more it struggled, the more it got tangled.

Jaina jumped off the beast's head and moved next to me. We looked at each other and nodded as we readied our blades. The furious monster glared at us, trying to spit fire to no avail. The vines were choking it, allowing barely any breath to come out.

Me and Jaina tightened our fists around the blades and raised them over our head before delivering an unhindered, heavy cross strike against the creature's neck. The hit was hard enough to break the fire sac inside of its neck and made it weak enough to slump down and stop struggling. After that hard-hitting blow it was just lying there, breathing heavily.

Jaina looked over at me after we finished our strike and wordlessly handed me my blade back. It was the one that my father's amulet was attached to. I moved towards the monster's now calmly resting head, all signs of struggling seeming to have left it.

I flipped my blades around and like the sword in the stone, thrusted them into its skull. Just like with Jaina, it felt like the last strike didn't hurt the wyvern, it didn't even tear the hide. Yet it looked like the life left its eyes… and the body went limp.

It was defeated. It was over.

I was panting heavily when I staggered away from the monster. I looked towards Jaina who immediately fell right into my arms.

Her tears stained the leather on my shoulders as I gently put my arms around her.

"We did it."

"We did! I was so scared!" Her voice was shaky and her cries heartbreaking.

"You did great, Jaina."

"It was all my fault! She would've never hurt you like this if I wasn't so damn stupid!" She hugged me even tighter and nuzzled my shoulder.

"I'm okay, Jaina. I'm fine. It didn't even hurt that baaaaa….." Suddenly a spike of pain shot through my body.

"Kalaydus! What's wrong?"

I sunk to the ground as Jaina gently held me in her claws and lowered me down. I hugged my front, twitching from the severe internal pain. It felt like my lungs and heart were getting cooked inside of me.  
"Fire blight…NHGHHH. My pouch! The berries!" I ordered her.

Jaina worriedly ripped the pouch off my belt and in a rush of panic rummaged through it to find the container with the nulberries. She carefully lifted my head, and put the rim of the container to my lips. The half-mashed berries slid into my mouth and I painfully swallowed what I could.

"Hahhh, gahhh, thank you!"

"How are they? Are the berries working?"

I took a deep breath now that my lungs didn't feel like they were boiling anymore. "Yeah, they did. Heh, they're actually a lot sweeter than I thought they'd be."

Jaina's worried expression loosened up and a soft smile formed on her lips. "Are they now?"

"See for yourself."

I leaned on my elbows as I propped myself up and placed a soft, loving kiss on Jaina's lips. She cupped my cheeks and closed her eyes as we enjoyed the feeling of closeness between us. For a second we could forget what we just went through and how stressful our situation was.

As we parted, Jaina laughed to herself. "You're right. They ARE sweet."

"Odd, right?"

"Hehe, yeah. It is." Jaina chuckled as she combed her claw through my tussled, slightly singed hair.

But all of the sudden, there was a weird noise that tore us out of our little, cheesy moment.

The skin of the monster was falling in on itself as if the inside of it was slowly shrinking, leaving only the hide behind. I knew all too well what that meant. My father's amulet had once again released its effects.

I crawled out from underneath Jaina and checked on the loose, hollow skin. The spot around the neck, where we hit it with the cross strike, open now and gave us a chance to look inside. I stuck my hands through it, feeling something warm and alive inside.

Jaina curiously looked over my shoulder. "What is it?"

"Well, it's the same way that I got you out of your old skin. Meaning that in there… is…"

I grabbed something that felt like armpits and pulled as hard as I could. The first thing that came out of the opening was an arm. An arm with a pink claw instead of hands. "Jaina, help me over here for a second."

"Got it. HRRNNGHH!"

Bit by bit, the full body of the semi human version of this monster emerged. As we pulled it out in the open, I could finally see what she looked like. It was a woman of course, and just like Jaina she had features that were human and others that were residues from her monster form.

She had an almost Amazonian body and a skin that was more full and rosy in contrast to Jaina's lighter, pale skin. Her tall body was very curvy, even more so than Jaina but I thought that could just be because of the size difference. Her hips were wide and thick which seamlessly translated into strong and muscular legs that transitioned into hard-scaled dark grey claws. Her breasts were also bigger, but if you count in the size difference, they were probably at about the same level. Her arms though were a lot feebler than I would've expected.

They were almost dainty and smooth up until her smaller, shorter claws. One other thing that she carried over from her monster form and that was the fur coat she had around her neck and a part of her back as well as the upper side of her massive tail while it had pink scaly hide on the underside. The black fur blended right in with her wallowing, long black hair that flowed out over it. There was a three-pronged scratch dragging across one of her eyes but; a wound that Jaina had caused her but I couldn't make out her eye color since her eyes were shut too tight to open them.

"So that's how I came out of my shell, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much exactly like that."

"Well, while she's still knocked out, we should…"

"Don't even say it."

Jaina's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"We're not going to kill her, neither are we going to leave her here. She won't survive for long in this state."

"Are you insane? She almost killed YOU! And you want to take her with us?"

"Yes…"

"Why?"

"Should I have left you, when you were in the same position?"

"Well… no…"

"Exactly, we don't know what she's like in her new form. We don't kill for no good reason."

I laid our sleeping monster into a patch of grass and let her rest. "She's not the reason we're here and she wasn't a target. And if she turns out to be cooperative, she could become an ally to us."

"I don't like that idea, Kalaydus. She's just violent! She's going to hurt us again."

I understood her worry and I couldn't lie and say that I trusted her not to do that. "We'll give her one chance to redeem herself. If she does, great, if not, we can handle her." I walked over to Jaina, holding her claws gently and reassuringly.

Jaina sighed and sunk her head while still squeezing my hands back. "She's caused me so much pain, Kalaydus. If she would hurt you as well…"

"That's why we won't let that happen, Jaina. Neither to me nor to you. We need to be above this. And I know you can do that." I carefully wrapped my arms around her, receiving a reluctant hug from her as well.

But after her hesitation, she smiled. "Okay, what now? We still have stuff to do, right?"

"Yeah, like I said…" I handed her 2 containers and nodded towards the field of berries. "…you're filling two and I do the other three.

She nodded with a smile and went about collecting as many nulberries as she could. But as I was about to do the same, I could feel the air blowing onto my skin. My armor was completely ruined and filled with charred tears and holes.

"Shit, I need to get these repaired." My gaze wandered over to the hollow skin of the former monster. "Or…"

After Jaina was done collecting the berries, she turned around to me as I was about to join her. She looked behind me in confusion. "Hey, where did her body go?"

"Huh?"

She nodded towards the sleeping semi woman. "Hers. Where's her skin?"

"Oh that! It's in here." I said proudly as I tapped against the pouch on my belt that didn't look any larger than it was before.

Jaina leaned down to take a close look at it. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope, bones, hide, scales, fur… all in here."

"You want to tell me that her whole body. All that skin. Fits in there?"

"Apparently so. I mean I carved it up before into tinier pieces. It's for the blacksmith. I really need a new armor. Leather evidently doesn't hold out against the stronger attacks."

"Ahh, now it makes total sense."

"Yup, let me just get the rest of those berries so that we can get going."

"I was being sarcast… nevermind."

And so, I did my part and filled the remaining empty containers with berries and stuffed the five of them into my pouch right along the bug net, fishing rod, BBQ spit and whetstones.

When we were finally done, the only thing left was going back… as well as carrying our new frenemy. I had no idea how this was going to go. It could be another Jaina situation where things would smoothly work out or… let's not think about the alternatives of bringing a fire breathing monster into a mostly wooden camp.

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[And there you go, guys. A new, longer and hopefully entertaining story.

You might be wondering, if you checked the reviews, why I picked the Anjanath this week and not the Rathian. And the answer is that I suspect some foul play. The Rathian was going to take this spot here, but when I checked over the reviews there was something fishy going on.

There was a sudden burst in guest reviews. All without a profile. All phrased in a similar way and all for the Rathian. They came out every day, in short bursts one after another and on different chapters even. So, what I think happened is that someone created multiple guest accounts to spam vote. Which is really not cool and not fair to the legitimate voters. So, I decided to give the spot to the runner-up which was the Anjanath.

I really don't want to dismiss the guest reviews so I hope next time there is nothing like this going on. Otherwise I will only count reviews with a profile attached to them. I'm sorry if that seems unfair to you, but I'm really doing this only for the sake of fairness.

On a lighter topic though, I hope that the chapter was fun to you and that you liked reading it. If you have any opinions or suggestions, positive or negative, send them my way and let me know what you thought. If you enjoyed this, favorite and follow me and my stuff and I'll see you next time.]


	9. Irreplacable

[Warning: Contains smut]

Night came over the forest when we finally got out of the forest. We had to get to an open area so we could call for the Mernos to pick us up and carry me, Jaina and our new companion back to Astera.

I carried the unconscious girl in a bridal style in my arms while Jaina repeatedly and 'subtly' shot me annoyed glances.

"What?"

"Oh, you know what!"

"How else would I get her back to camp if not by carrying her?"

"Well… why won't you let me carry her? You're still wounded anyways!"

"Because I'm worried that you're gonna rip her throat out if I leave her in your hands."

"So what if I did! Do you care that much about her? You're probably already into her and thinking about how you're gonna do her!" Jaina crossed her arms and grumbled to herself as she continued walking with her head turned away from me.

"You're being unreasonable, Jaina! I don't even know what she's like, how could I imagine doing that with her?"

"Well, she's pretty, isn't she? She has big boobs, bigger than mine and she has cleaner hair than I do!" Jaina's voice was sulky and pouty with a twinge of sadness.

"Jaina… there's more to it than that. In order for people to love each other, they have to know each other."

"But… when other males I knew looked for a partner they just looked at which one had the strongest and best body to make babies with."

"Well, humans are different. Looks can only get you so far. Love is a whole different ballpark."

"But what does love have to do with wanting someone to mate with?"

"Simple, you only 'mate' with those who you love. Usually at least." I shrugged. I wasn't that confident in my own statement. I didn't know much about how others viewed sex after all, but I felt like what I said was still valid.

Jaina carefully walked up to my side without looking at me. But even with her head turned away from me, I could tell that she was acting a bit bashful and sheepish. "So… does that mean you love… me?"

I stopped in my tracks when I first heard her question. She was still not facing me and honestly, I wasn't sure if I could face her either with all the blood that was rushing to my face.

I tried to act casual as I processed what I really thought the true answer to this was. "I ran right into that one, didn't I? I guess, I really never did say it out loud, huh?"

"You didn't… That's why I asked." Jaina's gaze went towards the ground as she kept walking and twiddling around with her claws anxiously.

A small twinge of guilt went through my heart when I realized that I've never told her. I just thought it went without saying but… I guess I couldn't be vague with her. All these concepts were new and alien to her so it was stupid of me to expect that she would just pick it up that easily. I had to be clear with her.

"Well… I do."

"Huh?" Finally, she looked at me again with expectant, attentive eyes.

"I do love you. I'm… sorry I've never said it."

"Really? Since when?"

"I guess ever since that night at the beach. We've both been beaten down and didn't know how to move on. I related to you on so many levels and… I guess it just kind of developed from there. You were cute, fun and you always kept up such an optimism that it sprung over to me."

Jaina's cheeks and the bridge of her nose flushed red and her twitching hands calmed down as a sweet smile crossed her lips. "That night… Around the same time then…"

"Around the same time? What do you mean?"

She chuckled and gave me a cheeky little wink. "I'll let you figure that out for yourself."

"Haha, veeery funny." I playfully rolled my eyes as she played my cards against me.

"Revenge is sweet." She cheerily shrugged back and walked closer to me again. It was good that she lightened up again, but I couldn't help but notice her throwing worried glances at the woman in my arms.

I tried to divert her attention from her. "You know, come to think of it… the night I found you I carried you the exact same way."

"Really?" Her brightened, golden eyes looked up at me with pure, genuine happiness.

"Yeah, I held you just like this. You know usually this is the way you're supposed to carry your… bride…" And when I said that, while I was almost wishing to sink into the ground from embarrassment, Jaina only cocked her head.

"What's a bride?"

"It's… well… when someone is very special to you and you love them so much that you want to spend the rest of your life with them, you marry them."

"And what's marrying?" Jaina came ever closer to me and I could feel her clinging to my arm as she intently listened to me.

"In a marriage you… exchange vows. A promise that you… want to keep being with them forever. For as long as life will take you." My heart was beating out of my chest and Jaina seemed to be massively excited by the idea.

"O…oh, so that's what that means, huh? Hehe, that's an… odd tradition you humans have." She chuckled awkwardly as she sheepishly combed back her hair with her claw. Her face was burning up and I wasn't faring much better.

But soon, there was something else going on with her. "Hrrmmmh…" Once again, she grumbled and threw nasty glances my way.

"What… now?" I hesitantly asked.

When I called her out on it, she slumped a little and turned her gaze away with a pout. "It doesn't make me happy that you carry HER that way now."

"Oh… yeah… b…but it doesn't always… mean something. With her I have to do it; for you I'd do it even if I didn't have to."

I could see from her expression that she was still not happy. I should not have expected her to, to be honest. This woman who I held in my arms was one that had caused Jaina a lot of pain and several wounds after all.

I questioned myself. Why DID I insist on taking her with us so much. By all accounts I should hate her. She hurt the girl I loved. But somehow there was this urge inside me to give her a chance to redeem herself no matter how irredeemable she seemed.

Maybe it had to do with the way how I met Jaina. Back then, we were both ready to kill each other and if I hadn't discovered her human form… she would be…

I couldn't even finish that thought. But the point was that we were just two creatures from two different sides pitted against each other. Neither of us meant anything by what we did. It was just nature.

Maybe that was my small hope for our new frenemy here. She could be terrible. She could be completely different. But before we gave her a chance, we wouldn't know. Maybe one day she and Jaina can resolve their issues with each other. Maybe…

"We should be in the clear up ahead." Jaina said coldly and unusually monotone. Following that announcement, she sped up her steps and walked ahead of me, knowing that I couldn't keep up with the girl in my arms.

"Jaina! Wait up!" I shouted after her as loudly as I could without alarming the wildlife. But she wasn't hearing it.

I sighed into the lonely silence of the dark blue forest, having to track Jaina's footsteps to find the clearing where we were going to take off.

"I really hope you're worth this." I lamented to the girl in my arms.

She restlessly twitched in her sleep. Her eyes were trembling and her claws were clenching and opening irregularly. In general… she kind of reminded me of how Jaina was when she was out of it. Who knows, maybe both of them have their own demons to fight.

But for that to happen, I'd first have to make up with Jaina again.

After a while more of following her trails, I reached an opening. The opening that we entered the forest from.

I heard the shout of a Mernos in the air and I knew already what that meant. Jaina had already taken off back to Astera and that suspicion turned out to be true when I saw a hooded figure hanging off a flying Mernos heading for the camp.

I really didn't think she'd be this upset.

I dejectedly and disappointedly called for my own Mernos which shortly afterwards came flying down to me. I tied the rope, that it carried, around my waist and attached the girl to it as well with an extra belt.

Thankfully Mernos are known to be incredibly strong fliers and it was able to lift both of us.

During the flight I thought about what I would tell Jaina and how we would move forward from now on. I had to have her on my side, otherwise… I wouldn't forgive myself.

It was probably pretty selfish to think that, but I needed her. I wanted her with me. And I'd do everything to be on her good side again.

Crossing the border to Astera, everything seemed quiet. Obviously. The hunters were out cold from the fire blight and the researchers were probably sleeping after the stress and exhaustion of caring for them.

It actually put my mind at ease to know that nobody would probably notice me and the semi human I carried in my arms. In fact, as the Mernos landed, I didn't even have to hide her and could head straight for the commander's quarters which were still lit with torches.

I carefully pulled aside the curtains that closed off the commander's room from the public and entered just to find the commander sitting at a desk full of documents running one hand through his hair while holding his head with the other. He was visibly exhausted and was apparently having a headache from working through a slough of papers.

"Commander. I'm back from my quest. I uhh… wanted to report in?"

His eyes wandered over to me and immediately widened as he saw me as well as the girl in my arms. He grumbled for a second before he got up and approached me. "Would you care to explain yourself? First your friend comes in here on her own, aimlessly wandering around the camp, and now you bring another one of these hybrid monsters. I'm really trying to work with you here. What happened?"

"You've picked up Jaina? Where is she?"

"Report first, answers later!" He spoke through his teeth trying to stay formal and collected.

I gulped and collected myself. "We carried out our mission as you ordered, sir. We found the clearing with the nulberries and collected as many as we could. But in the middle of everything there was an… incident. We alarmed the wildlife and got attacked by a monster. A huge, strong one that could breathe fire and ram us with its head. Definitely a brute wyvern I think." I pulled out the five containers of nulberries and placed them on his desk.

"That would be an Anjanath then. I'll make sure these are distributed to the medical staff. Continue." He explained to me before I went on.

"Well, long story short, we fought it and… this was the result. Just the same result as it was with Jaina. I took her with me because I thought she could be of some use for the research commission. I hear that you've captured several other monsters alive before, but I think if you had one that could actually tell you everything you need to know, it would be way more practical." I built up a sweat on my forehead as I tried to rectify my actions. I had no idea how that reason would hold up.

But to my surprise, the commander just nodded and accepted it, though there was something weird about him. He shook his head and laughed amused. "Man, you really are just like your father. But at least your father stopped at one."

I was taken aback and almost dropped the girl in surprise. "You… you know my dad? How? What are you talking about."

"Ah, boy, there's a lot I have to explain to you. Too much for this time of day. But, joking aside now…" He grew stern and came closer to me. "… Nobody must know. Not yet at least. I prepared private quarters for you and your companion. That's where I sent her when she arrived here. You're lucky I was the last person to be up at this point. I'm afraid there's only enough space for the two of you for now. Haven't exactly expected you to bring a new arrival so soon."

My eyes flicked all over the room as I tried my hardest to comprehend the situation I was in. "I'm glad to hear that you provided us with a place to stay, really I am but…There… There are still so many questions I have. What have you… When have you…"

He just shook his head and gave me an understanding smile. "In due time, Kalaydus. I will come visit you and Jaina tomorrow and explain everything to you. Trust me, I know more than you think." He took a deep breath. "In the meantime, I will take care of that new companion you brought along. She'll stay in a separate room where she can recover from her wounds and her transformation. Put her down on this bench over there, I'll transfer her later."

I did as I was ordered, as bewildered as I was, and gently laid her down on a long bench that was probably used for visitors in the commander's office.

When she settled down, a long, exasperated breath escaped her lips as she kept sleeping.

"What if she wakes up?" I asked cautiously.

"She won't. Not today at least. Judging by the wounds you caused her, she might take a while to recuperate. If she does however… well, we'll see how she'll handle it."

"I think I really should stay here if she…"

The commander waved me off, denying my retort. "You have your own troubles to face first. I've noticed the mood that your companion was in when she arrived here. It's not my business but you better sort it out quickly if you don't want it to turn into a bigger problem than it has to be. You'll get all your answers and our new arrival will be safe. I'll make sure of it. Now go!"

I was thankful but at the same time so confused. "Commander?"

"What is it, Kalaydus?"

But when he looked over his shoulder with a confident smile, I swallowed any further questions I had and instead: "Thank you."

"No problem. Everything will become clear soon. I promise. Now take care of Jaina, will you? Your quarters are at the bow of the hollow ship."

I nodded vehemently. "I will!"

I exited the commander's office into the dark night and scanned around for the quarters he described.

I found what I was looking for at the front of one of the stranded vessels, behind a couple of barrels and crates of unused sails for the ships. Apparently, the commander did this so nobody else would go back here.

Just like the commander's office, a curtain with the logo of the research commission on it kept it from the sight of the people outside. I carefully snuck a peek inside.

I lifted the curtain gently and was greeted by the back of Jaina, sitting on one of the two beds that were provided. The room was a bit cramped but still had enough room for the both of us. It was clearly not meant to be a living quarter but it would be enough for now.

I quietly slipped inside. Even from the faint rustling of the curtain, Jaina perked up a little and took a careful look over her shoulder. When her golden eyes met my blue ones, they quickly turned solemn and sad.

She turned around without saying a word and rubbed her right arm with her left claw uncomfortably.

"Hey." I said to break the silence.

"Hey. You're here." She stated with a monotone, hesitant voice. "Where's… she?"

"At the commander's office. She won't live in the same room as us."

"Did you want her to?"

"Why are you saying this stuff? You're acting like she's going to steal me away from you."

"Is she?" There wasn't even a hint of joking when she said that, yet when she did, a small snicker escaped my lips. When she heard my snickering, she crossed her arms and hugged her knees on top of the bed.

I came up behind her and crawled onto the bed. Before she could even react and escape, I wrapped my arms around her and dragged her into a soft, warm hug. I thought she needed this right now and apparently, I was right.

Jaina didn't struggle, nor did she protest it. Instead, she snuggled against me and let me entwine my fingers with her claws.

"I told you before, didn't I? I don't know her, just being attractive doesn't mean I'm going to like her. I just took her along because I wanted to give her the same chance as I did you."

Jaina seemed to still struggle with the idea and finally broke down. "But what if you DO end up liking her!" She whined and pressed her face into my chest. I could feel that she was crying. Tear stains were forming on my clothes. I was an idiot. The whole time I thought her doubts were silly but I forgot that to her… this was serious. I tightened my grip on her and tried to calm her down as she clung to me with trembling shoulders.

With a barely audible voice she wrung out a few words. "I don't want you to like her. Everything I'm good at, she's better at it. You're… you're going to forget about me. You won't need me anymore. Taking you away from me would be the last thing she hasn't done to me yet."

The weight of her words weighed down on me harder than I could describe. I took a moment to let her cry herself out and when the sobbing finally stopped, I spoke up again. "I don't care what she's better in."

Jaina lifted her head to look up at me with her watery, glistening eyes.

"I…I know this is all hard and confusing to you. Trust me, it is for me too. But whatever happens, whatever she can do that you can't… she's not you. She will never… ever replace you. You need to have trust in yourself, you need to have trust in me. WE need to have trust in each other. I won't forget about you and I hope you won't forget about me either."

"Of course, I won't. I love you!" Jaina half whined and half chuckled when she wiped the tears from her face with her palm.

I finally managed to wring a smile out of her and in turn, she made me smile as well. I ran my fingers through her hair that was just as messy and dirty as the day I met her. "And besides, you're leagues ahead of her. You know why?"

"Why?" She asked with a curious look up at me.

"Eh, I'll let you figure that out on your own."

I broke down laughing a little bit as she softly punched my chest with her clenched claws. "AWW! You can't get away with this NOW! Why do you think I'm leagues ahead of her?"

I finished giggling when I moved my hand from her hair to her cheek and looked directly into her eyes. "Because you've already got me." I said as a finishing touch before I pulled her closer and pressed my lips onto hers.

It was so relieving to finally have a moment like this with her again. With Jaina melting into the kiss and our bodies naturally wanting to be connected. Jaina fully turned around to my so that she could sit on my lap and sling her arms around me. While I held on to her hips, she almost painfully embraced my neck as she enthusiastically kissed me back with several small pecks and long, drawn out, silent kisses just so we could feel one another.

Since she didn't wear anything underneath her poncho, I could feel her bare crotch grind against my clothed one and felt like I was in a pretty unfair advantage. My cock naturally grew at the thought and feeling of her pressing herself against me and the faint warmth of her of her hot privates just added even more excitement.

Feeling her like this again felt like a missing puzzle piece was attached to me again. It felt natural and incredibly comforting.

But these clothes… they were just in the way now.

"Jaina?" I spoke up in between kisses.

"Yeah?" She responded with dreamy, hazy eyes.

"We should probably get a little more… comfortable. Don't you think?" I whispered huskily as I playfully toyed around with the rim of her furry hood.

"Leave that to me." She responded with an unusually sultry tone in her voice while her hooded eyes locked onto mine.

Before I snapped out of my daze, Jaina got off me and off the bed as well. She knelt down by the side of the bed and padded it to signal me that I should sit on the edge. I followed her instructions with a curious smile and after being instructed to, spread my legs to find Jaina snuggle in between them, petting my crotch.

"You got this big for me?" She giggled cheerily as her claws unimaginably gently put pressure onto my excitedly twitching cock.

"I thought it was pretty obvious back there that you were turning me on." I tried to laugh back but it was interrupted by soft gasps that escaped my mouth. "But you can't trick me, I felt you on my lap before. You're pretty into it yourself."

"Ha bap bap, this isn't about me, this is all… about you." She said huskily as she sneakily hooked her claw into the waistband of my pants and pulled them down to my knees. She almost predatorily gazed down at my exposed cock as it sprung up from its cover.

Her hunger for it was clearly visible in her expressions and she was already planning on how she would take it into her mouth like last time and give me yet another mind-blowing fellatio. But to my surprise, even though she was clearly tempted to do that, she left my cock alone for now. Instead, I watched as she hypnotically shimmied out of her poncho. Flipping up the flaps of it, she revealed her breasts as they swayed about after dropping out of her clothes.

My cock throbbed at the sight of the familiar smooth body that aroused me more than any fantasy ever could.

Shedding herself of the only layer of clothing that covered her, Jaina was ready to put her actual plan into action. She returned to her spot between my legs as I waited with bated breath for what she wanted to do to me.

"I know they're not as big as hers but…" Jaina trailed off before her voluptuous boobs pooled out onto my crotch, smothering my dick until its strength got it to pop into her cleavage. "…I think mine should do the trick just as well." She licked her lips with hot gasps of excitement.

I was so surprised by her bold move that I grip the sheets at the sudden shock of feeling her cold but stimulatingly smooth skin around my member. The tanginess of her flesh served like the perfect pressure to stimulate my shaft and tip equally, swallowing my cock in its entirety.

"I don't think you've got…nghh… any reason to talk yourself down, Jaina."

"Really! Does it feel good? I… I honestly wasn't too sure about that but… I'm… glad." Even though she put up a very seductive and confident façade, she was apparently still very self-conscious about sexual things. But in the end, that just made her efforts even more adorable.

I took the opportunity to let her know how much I appreciated that and combed past her ears with my hand. "You can get started now. Move them up and down. Trust me, I'll feel even better then."

Enthusiastic about pleasuring me, Jaina soon grabbed a hold of her tits and smooshed them together while sliding up and down around my cock. With firm pressure she squeezed it tightly and started to put all of her effort into smoothly rubbing my cock in between her distorting, plentiful breasts.

I could see from her flushing face that she was fully concentrating on it. Her mouth was slightly agape and I could faintly feel her hot breath when it hit the tip of my cock every time it peeked out of the top. With every elaborate stroke, I started to get more and more turned on and started to leak with precum. My cock glistened with wetness when it emerged from her cleavage, after a while being caked in slippery liquid.

But no matter how amazing it felt to have her give it her all, I felt like it could be even more amazing. I felt guilty for demanding it, but if I was going to put my trust into Jaina, I had to be forward. "Jaina, do you think you could… suck on it as well?"

Her motions didn't let up when she gaspingly looked up at me with a confused but attentive look. "Huh? But I'm already doing this with my breasts for you."

"I know, but do you see when my dick pops out of them at the top. When that happens, catch it with your mouth… and keep it there!" I ordered her, losing all sense of reluctance I had before. With my slipping cock, sliding through her tight crevasse. Her irregular movements as she was distracted from the talking sent shivers through my spine.

Jaina's face was flush with excitement and insecurity, but she nodded in response. "I'll do my best!" With those words, she looked down at her boobs while she moved them like a fisherman waiting for his bait to be taken. My red, swollen tip pistoned in and out of the cover until Jaina dove into her own breasts with her wide-open mouth.

With her forked tongue, she guided what she could catch into her mouth and started to suck on it hard to not lose her grip on it.

I was overwhelmed from the sudden mixture of supple softness and slippery moisture. While her skin and tongue were inherently cold, her breath was hot and wafting around my cock. It made for an incredible mix that made me moan and grip the sheets of the bed as well as the back of her head.

Jaina completely devoted herself to what she was doing, sucking as hard as she could and slurping loudly as her saliva swished about.

"It tashtes like your cum… I shtill remember it." She muttered as her eyes closed shut. She was taking in the taste and furrowing her brows as she did her best to lure the cum out of my balls. Her body pressed more and more against me, her breasts pumping on my lap.

"Fuck yeah, keep going, Jaina. I think… nghhh… I'll cum soon. You're doing great. You're doing amazing!" I shiver as her motions kept increasing in speed. Her tits slapped against my crotch with increasingly wet sounds emanating from it. I felt her tongue swirling around whatever length it could cover and her lips teased my cock as they slid over the ridge of its head.

My cock was twitching and I could feel myself edging closer to orgasm.

Once Jaina heard and processed that I was going to come, she was doing everything in her power to make it happen. She squeezed her breasts and lips tighter and was visibly hungering for my cum. She seemed intent on proving to me that she was a glutton at heart. The naughty noises that rang out through the small room, sent my mind into overdrive. I could feel my balls tighten and my shaft thicken in preparation for my climax.

I bunched up a bundle of her hair in my fist as I slowly lost my restraint.

And just as I reached my limit, Jaina shoved my cock far enough into her mouth for me to hit the back of her throat. A wave of cum sprayed onto her gums and tongue while whatever little rest that she couldn't hold in, spilled onto her breasts and made them glisten with my surprisingly plentiful sperm. I don't think I've ever came so hard in my life.

It felt like my orgasm sucked me dry, yet more and more of my cum bubbled up for Jaina to greedily swallow and lick up. There was no stopping her. Her throat pumped up and down without even breaking off for a second. Jaina even moved of her claws to hold my throbbing, pulsing member in place. She truly wanted to gulp down everything she could get.

It took several seconds before she finally finished and even licked my entire shaft and tip free of cum.

Her face was distant with a look of satisfaction. Her eyes were hooded and her tongue limply hung out of her mouth while she breathed heavily. As if to present herself to me, she looked up at me with her sparkling eyes and opened her mouth wide to show that it was empty. She didn't even notice that there were droplets of cum hanging from her chin as well as on her breast.

The sight alone was enough to get my cock to grow full on hard again.

"Jaina!" Grabbing her by her shoulders I pushed her towards the other bed that was parallel from hers. I pushed her onto the sheets, pinning her and swiftly capturing her lips. Even though I could faintly taste the remnants of my cum, I couldn't care less.

Jaina seemed in too much of a daze to be surprised at my sudden move and just went with the flow by wrestling my tongue with hers.

The more I got into our make-out session, the more I felt restraint by my clothes. I shimmied out of my pants and boots, and even Jaina couldn't wait any longer to get my burnt leather armor off me. With her claws she tore into it and roughly shoved my jacket off of me. "You don't need that thing anymore anyways!" She moaned in between kisses, disposing of my now burnt AND ripped armor.

After stripping me naked, Jaine threw her arms around my neck and head, passionately returning my kisses.

Without looking, I tried to reach for my cock and line it up with Jaina's dripping, faintly cold pussy. Our naked bodies were tightly pressed against each other and sweat was starting to form on our skin. I lovingly looked into Jaina's golden eyes as I gently held her cheek. She looked anxious and restless, shimmying around underneath me, causing her pussy to toy around with the tip of my cock.

"Nnnhhh…" She was audibly and visibly annoyed.

I chuckled cheekily. "What?"

"Put it in alreadyyyy…" She whined as she puffed her cheeks.

I deflated them again though as I popped her lips open to snake my tongue inside. Her eyes go wide before she returns to her dazed, desperate look. "Can do…" I mutter almost inaudibly in between kisses as I push my hip forwards and plunge straight into her folds.

Her wiggling insides snugly embraced my incoming cock while Jaina's mouth went more and more agape and her expression slack. Just the same, my face contorted in pleasure and ecstasy was rushing through my body.

My breath grew ragged and quivery as I began thrusting. At first slowly and deliberate, I slid in and out of her while holding her body close. My arms were on her side and her hip as my hands grabbed onto her supple skin.

When our synced rhythm sped up, our hands met and entwined left and right of Jaina's head. We were holding hands like lovers were supposed to when they were doing this. Our sweaty bodies collided harder and harder as my cock spread open her slit. Both our sexes were slick and wet with our juices, making it extremely easy for them to slide around and into each other.

"Fuck! Kalaydus! Faster! Hit it all the way in the back!" Jaina moaned into my ear.

I followed through with her orders and moved on to short but deep, grinding movements. Our crotches were almost glued together.

The more we went on and the further in we got, Jaina's legs slowly closed around me to keep me in place. Her leg claws were tense and twitched in erratic movements with every time I pounded into her.

My cock's head gouged her deep insides which were happily kissing my tip. I was embedded in this slight cold, yet it felt so snug to be inside of it.

"I love you, Jaina! Fuck! I love you!" I cried out, kissing Jaina's slender neck to reinforce my emotions.

Upon hearing this, she lost grip of my hands and instead dug her claws into my back. Not strong enough to hurt me, but enough to hold on and give me light scratches. "I love you too, Kalaydus! I love you so damn much! Oh my goooood!"

I was itching all over, craving to cum inside of her to seal our confessions. I wanted to fill her to the brim and give her all that I can.

Jaina closed her eyes and pressed her face into my shoulder while I was smothered by her earthy, but familiar smelling hair.

I crashed into her harder, making the juices splatter around between us and effectively ruining the bed. Our collisions began to ripple throughout our bodies and we tensed up from the impending finale.

"Cumming! I'm cumming, Kalaydus!" I heard the muffled, strained voice of Jaina reaching my ears.

"Same… haaaa... here!" I wrung out in response as I grabbed her smooth, sweaty thighs to get a tight grip and pulling her towards me.

Jaina was writhing in pleasure just as much as I was and I struggled to keep up the pace. Our lips slowly opened as we were ready to let out our final moans.

"HHhahhhhhhHHaahhhh!" "KyyaaaaaaaHHHH!"

Our bodies contorted, mangling on the bed. In several erratic spurts, I filled Jaina with my sperm to the point of overflowing. And yet I couldn't stop myself from spreading more and more of it. Jaina's insides constricted around me even though they could hardly get a grip with all the cum swishing around. Our bodies tensed up together and we embraced as we rode out our aftermath. With heavy breath, we slowly settled, cum flowing from our connection point in mass. The cloudy, clear liquid stained the bedsheets and created a small pool underneath us.

I lifted my head although I could barely even think straight right now. "Maybe we should use your bed tonight, huh?"

Jaina reacted with an exhausted smile. "You're probably right there. We'll switch it up next time."

I chuckled along with her, embarrassedly laughing at the thought that we were already thinking of doing this again in the future. We met in a gentle, soft kiss to send the night off before we sluggishly got up and moved over to Jaina's bed.

I pulled the blanket over us as we left the room and the bed in complete disarray. Well, not like it mattered much. It looked like a storage unit before already.

The gentle moonlight shone through a few slits in the bow of the ship and let the room glow in a dark blue. Jaina resting on top of me while I held her in my arm. She exhaustedly inhaled through her nose.

"I like your smell." She whispered.

I chuckled. "Where did that come from?"

"I dunno, it just came over me like that and I really wanted to tell you."

"You know that I still haven't had a shower yet, right? I've been walking around with thick armor until now. I must smell pretty strongly."

"Maybe… but now you smell just like me."

Somehow… those words made my heart flutter and I pulled Jaina even closer to me, nuzzling her hair. "I like your smell too, Jaina. I like it a lot actually." I muttered as I caressed her head.

We both closed our eyes as sleepiness took over. And with a few last words, Jaina closed off the night before we dozed off.

"I'm glad."

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 **[Well, holy hell there've been a lot of comments on the last chapter. I guess I should thank you all for engaging with this story so much. So, since I don't have any new announcements for now, I decided that I would respond to some of the comments.**

 **Sadly, I couldn't answer most of them in person.**

 **It's one of the problems I have at the moment with Guest reviews. I can't respond to them. If you are reading this and you have a guest profile, I'd urge you to get a profile on this site so I can actually respond to your questions. This time I'll make an exception and respond to your questions publicly but don't count on it happening every time.**

 **First off, to cover a lot of ground, there were a lot of people already requesting other monsters and I want to ask you to save those requests for now. I won't do a new monster every chapter. That would completely throw off the flow of this story and dash character development which deserves its time. When I want to introduce a new monster though, I will always ask you what you would like to see and count the votes that are placed on the corresponding chapter. So that's that.**

 **Then there was a reviewer called Pokeballs12 who I couldn't respond to, not because he had a guest profile, but he turned his PMs off. He asked if I would update every week and to that I can say: Yes. This story will be updated weekly. I don't want to set a certain day since that would just be unnecessary stress but certainly once a week is doable.**

 **Then there were a lot of people telling me that they really liked the story and I am really thankful for that. I really appreciate all the compliments you guys sent my way and I hope I can live up to them in the future.**

 **But now we have to get to the guest issue and whether or not I will accept future votes by them. After thinking about it for a while, I decided on a solution that I have to credit one of said guest reviewers with. Here's a deal. If you, for whatever reason, can't or won't create an actual account on here, at least give your guest profile an individual name so I know it's not just the same person. If that doesn't end up working and there will be someone who just creates several aliases with the same spamming method, I'll completely dismiss guest votes in the future. It sounds harsh, but I don't want a system where one or two guys get their way all the time through spamming.**

 **I hope that sounds reasonable to you. I want to keep this as a positive and fair thing after all. This story is more successful than I ever expected and I don't want it to turn into a pain.**

 **Thanks to all of you guys and as always, you can leave a review with your thoughts or suggestions for improvement and follow and favorite me and my stuff. See you soon.]**


	10. Keep on keeping on

"I suppose I should've kind of expected that."

I struggled to open my eyes as harsh rays of light shone through the flipped-up curtains. A gruff voice woke me and it took until my eyes adjusted to the brightness that I fully realized what was going on.

"WOAH! Commander!? What the fuck?!"

"Rise and shine, Kalaydus! You might want to cover your groin region. Not the best impression for a freshman hunter."

"Oh, shit!" I scrambled to grab the blanket and wrap it around my waist, but as I did that, I pulled it away from Jaina who was still sleeping and now lying out in the open completely exposed.

My eyes and the commanders' were glued to her as she padded around to look for the blanket I just ripped off her. "Kalaaaayduuus…? Did you take my blaannnkeettt?" She slurred as she drunkenly started to wake up.

Limply, she sat up, lifting her claw to her eyes and wiping the sleep sand out of them. She blinked several times before her vision cleared and the clearer it got, you could see the color drain out of her eyes while her mouth simultaneously went more and more agape.

"…aaaaaaaahahhhhhahahahaAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…." The further she kept going the more it sounded like a broken whistle that was almost shattering our ears from the inaudible frequencies she was screaming at.

I hastily sacrificed myself and unwrapped my covering blanket to toss it onto her head. "Here! Use mine!"

I covered my crotch with my hand while I tore the other blanket from the other unoccupied bed. I wrapped it around my waist again… instant regret.

"Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh…." Immediately I felt something half dried and gooey cling to me.

Despite this chaos, the commander just stood there with a deadpan expression as he watched me contort in disgust and lifelessness. I was mentally dead. "Is something the matter, Kalaydus?"

"NNnnnope! Everything alright, sir! Brrhhhh." Shudders went through my spine as I wrung out the few words that I could manage to form without cringing.

Meanwhile, Jaina had still not covered herself. The blanket was still hanging over her head and you could hear muffled screaks from underneath.

"…For the sake of civility, I will leave it at that. I will… expect you two in my office in an hour. We have important matters to discuss and decisions to make. And for god's sake, get dressed already!" The commander turned his back to us and flung the curtain shut behind him.

My legs gave in after the sudden tension and I fell back onto the bed… not realizing that I would sit right on our… remnants from last night.

A bolt of cringe shot through my body and I kept shivering at the feeling. "I'm… going to have a shower."

"I can't look him in the eyes again!" Jaina whined as she pressed the blanket into her face.

Overall, I'd call it an extraordinary first morning in Astera.

After recovering from our shock, me showering off the mixture of body fluids from my lower back and both of us getting dressed again, me and Jaina plopped down on the bed that wasn't stained and fidgeted around as we waited for our appointment.

Jaina was still blushing heavily and I still had the feeling of crusty and at the same time mushy cum lingering on my skin. I scratched my cheek uncomfortably as the thought popped in my mind again but soon found myself more occupied with Jaina who was worriedly clinging to a pillow she used to cuddle while I wasn't there.

Her mouth disappeared within the cushion while she was looking straight ahead with a solemn stare.

"You alright? Listen, I don't think it was that ba…"

"It's not because of that." She interrupted me. "I've just… got a lot on my mind right now."

I pulled my legs onto the bed and crossed them as I listened to her. "Like what?"

"I don't know what I'm gonna do. On one hand I want the hunters here to accept me, but on the other hand if they did find out… What if they resent me?"

"I don't think that they will. I have a gut feeling."

"But what if they do?"

"They will!"

"You're just being optimistic!"

"Of course, I'm being optimistic. If these last couple of days have taught me anything it's that a terrible situation can turn around into something you would've never expected. So yeah, I'm stupidly optimistic."

She wanted to refute it, but just as fast as her mouth opened, she closed it again and stuffed her face into the pillow again.

I put my hand on her shoulder and slightly shook her so she would look up again. "If I was only negative and never took chances, no matter how stupid and unlikely they might seem, I wouldn't have met you."

Her face flinched for a second, her doubts being shaken by my words.

"I learned to take this shit day by day. You might make mistakes or the wrong decisions, but without going off into the deep end… you'll never know if you're onto something or not." I smirked a little, trying to as sincerely as I could convey to her what I wanted her to understand.

And after a few seconds, I got my response with a sweet, reserved smile. "I think I get it. Thanks."

"No…" In the middle of my sentence, Jaina dropped the pillow she was hugging and instead wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me. "…problem." Even with my arms being pressed tightly against my body, I hugged her sides with my lower arms as much as I could wrap around her at least.

"Your hair really does smell worse after a shower."

"I wouldn't call it a bad smell. I call it earthy." Jaina chuckled cutely.

"Of course, you'd call it that."

"Maybe you shouldn't shower again. Then the difference isn't that bad."

"Or you take one yourself."

She reeled back in shock, waving her hands. "I can't just take a shower. It'd be like washing away…" She pumped a fist with an enchanted, inspired look. "… a part of my soul."

I busted out laughing at her ridiculous pose and as soon as she noticed it, she joined in. Deep inside, I was happy that we could stray away from the former, serious topic. I had no idea what the future would hold for us and how people at this camp would react to a half human, half monster hybrid. I could only hope that by the time they DO find out, Jaina would at the very least get off unharmed.

And with that risk I took with the Anjanath girl… I just hoped everything worked out.

After waiting a little longer, me and Jaina headed out to our appointment with the commander. The outside was a lot calmer than the days before, now that the medics were able to distribute the nulberries to everyone to cure their fire blight. Jaina, from underneath her shadowy hood looked around, seeing all these people relieved that their pain was finally gone.

And even I couldn't help but follow suit… when I saw a cute little smile spread over her lips.

We finally arrived at the commander's office and at first, I was confused to see someone else with him. Someone I've seen before.

"Salutations, young man." I was greeted with a bow by the woman who only introduced herself as the guild marm to me. She was holding a clipboard and a pen, attentively taking notes on something.

"Uhh… commander?" I worriedly looked over at him as he got up from his work desk.

"Don't worry, she is aware of our situation. She is one of the two people who know about you and your friend and what is going on."

"Indeed, I've been privy to your father's exploits and I relish the opportunity to closer examine the cause of humanization." She linked her arm with mine and guided me over towards a lone chair next to a table full of documents and medical equipment.

Jaina could do nothing but look on as she hesitated to step in. "Wh…what are you doing with him?" She whispered barely loud enough for people to pick it up.

"This one, he is a very unusual one. More unusual than even he probably realizes. Just like you but… different."

All of the sudden, Guild Marm rolled my sleeve up to my shoulder and tied a rubber band around I my upper arm. "Woah, woah, hold it right there! What's going on?"

Once I tore my arm away from her, she stepped back and apologetically bowed as she straightened her glasses. "My… apologies. I just got… a little excited there. I'll let the commander explain everything you need to know."

I was confused, not knowing if I should be furious or terrified. I took a breather as the commander stepped forward and looked down at me with a nostalgic, proud look on his face. He was obviously no less excited to investigate me.

He cleared his throat and moved his hands behind his back as he walked back and forth. "Around 20 years ago, I was in an expedition team with your father. He was everything that hunters aspire to be. He was mighty, inventive and he had a sixth sense for every move a monster could make. He donned the strongest equipment, earned from his multitude of successful hunts. He could defeat every monster from the smallest wyverns to the strongest of elder dragons.

That was until one day where he met his match."

"His match? What would that even be? Dad never told me of any hunt that he failed."

"He didn't fail it… not technically anyways."

The commander went over to his desk and continued to talk as he stared at pinned up maps from different regions of the old world. "There was a Rathian. Not any Rathian though. One that just like your father knew every move of any hunter. It never settled down and moved from land to land with different teams of hunters trying to slay it. But no matter where it went, one hunter that was always sure to be there and challenge it. Your father. A rivalry grew between them. A fight between two forces too stubborn to give up. Klaudius couldn't take it sitting down that he could not manage to slay a simple Rathian. Not a pink Rathian, not even a golden one. A regular Rathian but with the fighting spirit of an elder dragon."

He turned back to me waving his finger in an explanatory way. "BUT! One day, after months of tracking and slowly wearing it down. Countless confrontations and almost deadly wounds that they caused each other, your father and this Rathian. This violent, raging Rathian… they arrived at a stalemate. The way your father described it to me, they knew at this point that neither of them could win and that they were equal in power. The Rathian was wounded badly and bleeding out of several deep cuts. But just as well, your father was torn pretty badly as well. His armor shredded and his flesh deeply cut.

Suddenly, the Rathian collapsed. Klaudius staggered, his wounds finally wearing him down. He weakly crawled towards the Rathian, blood pouring all over his body just like it did on the monster.

He noticed that the Rathian was still breathing, but just like him on the verge of death. He was so close to slaying it. It would've taken a single strike to end it. But that's not what he did."

I sat in my seat, my body growing tense from the expectation of where this was going to go.

"The monster was whining and trying to breathe with its lacerated lungs. Klaudius knew it was suffering. He knew he could kill it and that would put it out of its misery. His eyes met with the sharp ones of the monster. His long time enemy that he hunted down for ages. To just end it like this seemed unimaginable to him. He wanted to give at least one last sign of respect and used his own carving knife to cut the palm of his hand. As the blood started to spill out of the small cut and mixed the massive amounts of the rest of it, he raised his hand and gently placed it on the Rathian's head where one of the larger gashes was spread across. The Rathian closed its eyes and took a moment to feel Klaudius' hand.

They both felt the comfort of each other's touch as the creature slowly but surely sunk down and seized all signs of life like it was shutting down. But when their blood mixed and it got into the monster's bloodstream, it caused a reaction. While the monster's body clearly died, something new formed inside of it. Something just like your friend over there. A semi human." His eyes flicked over at Jaina who jerked up nervously as she was talked to. The commander approached her and intimidatingly stared her down.

"The Rathian's body grew into a hollow husk and out of the cuts in the hide, emerged a woman. Her torso and head were like that of a human but her appendages were those of a monster and wings, spikes and a tail even extended from her body.

Klaudius had no idea how any of this had come to be, but with how hard it was for him to let go of this monster before, now it seemed impossible to him. Although wounded, he carried the weak woman to his camp, making sure nobody would see her. The only people he ever confided in were me… and the guild marm."

He looked over at her, letting her continue the story. "We helped him find a home on the countryside where he could tend to his own wounds and to those of the Rathian woman. When she awoke, she was confused at first but upon realizing who it was that cared for her, there was no hostility, no hatred, but respect and even admiration. They spent several months together and eventually fell in love. But it was risky. Even though they were mostly hidden away from the public view, surrounding villagers started to spread rumors that your father was hiding something. Afraid that the Rathian would be discovered, they came to a decision. They would live apart, with her living in the wild and him living in civilization. They would meet from time to time in secret and lived out their love unseen by anyone. And that is where you come in."

I was still stunned and speechless. My fists clenched and I looked up at the Guild Marm with tension. "She's… my mother… isn't she?"

The guild marm nodded and in a matter of fact tone spoke up again. "That's why we need to see your blood. There has obviously never been a birth between a human and a monster. There is a possibility that you share the traits of a monster and if you do, there could be endless possibilities on how to use that to our advantage. Rathian blood, if mixed with human blood, has a very unique effect.

If it enters the bloodstream of a monster, it drains its life power to an incredibly low level, but not enough to kill it. Instead, the energy in the blood mixture keeps the monster alive but can no longer support the massive body it is locked in. So, it creates a different body that can live off the low amount of life energy. The closest to that is a human body since it can draw the reference from the human blood. And thus, it creates a human/monster hybrid."

I fell back into my chair and ran my hand through my hair, trying to comprehend everything that happened up to this point. I reached over my shoulder and pulled out one of my blades. The one that had the amulet my father gave me dangling from it. The green scales that encased it, the swirling dark red liquid inside it and the effects it had… it all made sense now. "So… that means that inside of this… is the blood of a Rathian and the blood of a human.

"Your mother and father poured their blood into this, yes. And its effects transfer into the weapon that it is attached to. And if our theory is correct… your blood has the same mixture of Rathian and human." The guild marm said calmly as she adjusted her glasses.

Jaina suddenly burst out in surprise. "Does that mean Kalaydus is a demi human?!"

The guild marm turned around unperturbed. "It would explain a lot, wouldn't it? He understands monsters better than anyone of his experience usually would and he might carry many other traits that the queen of the land would."

I got up from my chair, visibly restless and agitated. "This is ridiculous!" I threw my arms around in a fit of rage and knocked over my chair, making it slam loudly onto the ground.

The Guild Marm put her hands onto my chest to hold me back. "Calm down, child. I know it must be hard to find that out about yourself but you need to learn to live with…"

"That's not the point!" I yelled. And the room grew silent. Tears started to form in the corners of my eyes. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and grit my teeth to make suppress my anger and sadness. "For 21 years… FOR 21 YEARS I've never seen my mother all because of half-truths and a baseless fear that something might happen to her if someone saw her. To now learn that the only reason I never got to have a social life, never got to experience a normal family and had to be told not to follow my dreams is because my father lied to me and kept me in the dark? I don't give a fuck if me OR my mother are monsters, humans… whatever! I wanted to have a life with them…"

The tears streaked down to my chin and dropped onto the floor. Never in my life had I been so disillusioned and furious. I took it. Over all these years I just took it and swallowed my demands and needs for the sake of my father only for it to bottle up and burst out in this moment.

My fists were clenched tightly until I felt someone gently opening them and entwining them with their hands. It was Jaina, with tears in her eyes as well and a look of empathetic worry. "Kalaydus…?" She asked quietly, checking if I was okay.

When I saw how terrified she was, I stopped. "I'm… I'm alright, Jaina… you can let go." I gentliy let go of her claws and scrunched my face to squeeze out the last of my tears. "What was her name?"

The Guild Marm jerked up. "Huh?"

"My mother… what was her name?"

"Layla… Her name was Layla. Your name has a bit of a resemblance to both of their names being combined. Kalaydus."

"I see… Layla. My mother's name is Layla." I spoke it back to myself and closed my eyes, trying to suppress my emotions, as I propped up the chair again to sit down in it and rest my arm on the table. "Let's find out how much I resemble her. Go ahead."

The commander and Guild Marm looked at each other before the guild marm stepped forward to inject a syringe into my arm and get a probe of my blood.

After collecting a full phial of my dark red fluid, she brought it over to a microscopic lens and took off her glasses to examine it closely.

The commander looked over her shoulder, waiting for her reaction. "So?"

She put her glasses back on and cleared her throat. "It's miraculous. The human blood is clearly dominant and it most likely is the reason that he lacks semblance to a monster but… he clearly has monster DNA in him that is most likely to influence his mentality and ability. So that means…"

"…Kalaydus is a demi human." The commander finished.

Jaina looked over at me as we confirmed what we suspected already. All eyes were on me and at this point I could only react with indifference. "What do you expect me to say now? I told you already… it doesn't matter to me. So, you tell me, how are we going to handle this?"

"It's difficult to say. It's a simple truth, hunters hunt and slay monsters. I don't know how they would react to a half human monster. It could mean the end of you if they think you're a possible threat. They could question your loyalty to the research commission and suspect that you're going to put the entire operation at risk. We will keep this under wraps until you established more of a reputation so it would be undeniable that you are determined to help our mission."

"I AM LOYAL! UNTIL TODAY I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME BEING PART MONSTER! THIS IS BULLSHIT!" I shouted angrily, making even the commander reel back in surprise.

Soon though, he returned to his stoic, unwavering posture. "Yes. WE know that. THEY don't. I know that this is all very confusing to you and you are understandably furious. But if you care for the stability and success of Astera: stand down."

I once again felt the desire swell up, the desire to fall into a fit of rage and wreck everything. I was just about to get up and charge the commander for treating me just like my father did. Jaina saw the ferocity in my eyes and blocked my path, throwing her arms around me. "Please don't… please… don't." She pleaded with me as my breath grew more and more hot. It felt like it was burning my throat and little embers were sparkling in my mouth.

My view was blurry and I could feel the heavy beating of my heart. The commander closed his eyes and shook his head. "Listen, I will do my best to get you integrated but if you do what I think you're about to do, you're only going to make everything harder.

It was a struggle in my mind to wager reason with emotions. Jaina's embrace tightened and she kept begging me to settle down again. "You're not yourself, Kalaydus! Don't give in! Please…" Her growingly weak voice reached my ears. My heavy breathing slowly regulated itself and my fists slowly loosened. I weakly staggered into Jaina's arms and embraced her.

The smell of her hair was a familiar comfort and pulled me back into the world of clear thinking.

The Guild Marm and the commander looked at each other worriedly until the commander finally stepped forward to put his hand on my shoulder. "In a minute, I will call the other hunters for an announcement and let them know that you two were the ones who delivered the nulberries that ended their pain. They may not know what you are, but they will certainly know WHO you are. It'll give you a good start to make a name for yourself. Take your time, but meet me and the people outside shortly. And keep details about yourself at a minimum." He explained to me as if it was back to business as usual. I followed him with my eyes as he, without looking back, exited the office. I could hear him call out the regular daily announcements.

I was still inside, holding onto Jaina. I needed a moment. Several moments actually. I was disillusioned, plan-less and angry at the same time. Jaina hugged me tighter, letting me rest for the short time we had. She looked up at me with a sorrowful smile. "We're going to get through this, right? One day at a time, just like you said."

I weakly chuckled. "Quite a shitty day to start with but… maybe you're right though. As much as I don't want to do this, we should keep on keeping on, huh?" I gently pulled her hood over her head and smiled. "Let's do this."

Stepping outside, the eyes of the couple hundred hunters of Astera were glued to us as the commander interrupted his speech. "Ah, how fortunate. I was just about to sing my praises about you two. Look, hunters! These two provided us with medicine and ended the fire blight epidemic!"

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause, singing our praises in thankfulness. It should've been a happy, proud moment but Jaina and me could barely manage to put on smiles. We walked up behind the commander, standing right and left of him. We kept throwing glances each other's way and were both uncomfortable. I was the only one who caught a view of her reptilian eyes, her brows furrowed but a forced, supposedly celebratory smirk on her lips.

Seeing it, didn't really calm my worries in the slightest, but the commander's speech went on.

"…in these times we require bravery, intuition and readiness to dive into action. Kalaydus and Jaina here signify exactly that! You all can strife to be just as strong as them one day. They fought an Anjanath just to get a couple of nulberries even!"

"S…stop it..." I tried to interrupt him but he either didn't hear me or pretended not to.

"They will slay and capture monsters for our research that will be much mightier than that and I see a bright future for their involvement…

Jaina shimmied closer to me until we were shoulder to shoulder. Everyone was too enraptured by the commander's speech to notice us behind him. Jaina sneakily held onto one of my fingers and looked straight ahead as she talked just loud enough for me to hear her. "Secrecy was the thing that drove your family apart, wasn't it?" My eyes started shivering when her claw wrapped around my hand and she held on to it tightly. "I'm scared."

"…so here are our heroes of the hour. Kalaydus, Jaina, please introduce yourself to your fellow hunters!" The commander announced us with a proud, victorious smile.

The tense crowd went completely quiet. Not a sound. Anxious for our words.

And when it finally came down to it, Jaina let go of my hand.

I looked at her with a questioning stare. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I nodded to her. Following that, she took a deep breath herself and nodded back.

Time stopped. Jaina's claws that were formerly tucked into her poncho rose up to pull back her hood.

The tension dropped and the crowd turned lifeless, terrified stares boring into us.

We could see the commander freezing up as he watched on wordlessly.

Jaina's reptilian eyes flashed open. Nothing was hidden anymore.

I stepped forward and addressed the crowd.

"We… are monsters!"

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 **[That was… a lot to drop on you in one chapter but I hope it was still enjoyable to read. Next time will be a little lighter on the plot unless you like it heavy like it was in this one. Let me know.**

 **I actually really appreciate you sticking through to the end, so I thought I'd give you a little reward for that. As a sign of my gratitude.**

 **From now on, you no longer have to pay for breathing. Yes, you heard me right. Used to be that you were building up a huge bill that you had to pay one day. All erased thanks to me. You can now breathe freely. You're welcome!**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought in the reviews and follow and favorite me and my stuff.**

 **PS. Please, do not send me any more requests for monsters. Like I said in the last chapter, I won't acknowledge them. Once I'll be about to introduce a new one, you can submit your votes there. Everything before that, won't count. Thank you.]**


	11. Back to square one

"Is this supposed to be a joke?!"

"You better just be wearing Jagras armor right now!"

"Does the commander allow monsters to roam free in Astera now?"

"They can't be monsters! They hardly look like them!"

"We demand an explanation!"

Where there was roaring cheer before, now there was scrutiny and hostility. Jaina was trembling on her feet as the angry shouts were directed at her. I moved up and got in front of her to divert the attention to me, raising my arms to calm down the crowd. "Listen everyone, we can tell you what's going on, but you need to listen!"

"Isn't that the guy from the Fourth Fleet?"

"Yeah, you're right! I was on the same ship as him. It's the guy that nailed his training session. I knew there had to be something off with him!"

"He's the first one who got off the airship too! That's doubly suspicious. You're… you're trying to sabotage us!"

Panicked whispers went through the masses as some even defensively went for their weapons.

I hastily rush in to clear up the situation. "I swear! We're not here to harm you. I just found out that I am part monster myself, people! I'm just as, if not more confused about all this! Lower your weapons!" None of them listened. Instead I was met with more distrust, thinking that I was about to get violent after raising my voice. People kept their distance from us and watched every move me and Jaina made. Even though Jaina was only shaking and full of fear. In a rush, she clung to my arm and began to cry.

It broke my heart to see her so distressed. I gently combed her hair to calm her down while the crowd even went quiet from them hearing her painful sobs.

"Is she… is she crying?" A woman in the crowd asked, making the few that hadn't already, notice it.

I held Jaina in my arms and let her press her face into my chest. "All I wanted was a home! All I wanted… was a home." She repeated herself with the second time sounding more like a whimper than actual words.

I gently rubbed her arm to get her to relax. Upon seeing this, the crowd went silent but still visibly undecided on how they should feel about us.

To my surprise though, it was the commander who stepped in front of us. "Dear hunters, I know this is a very peculiar situation and the way we… exposed you to this was rather brash. But I've made the decision to allow these two to stay in Astera. It will probably take quite a while before we all get used to this but I will ask you to try and see them just like you see your fellow Wyverians and Palicoes. Another species working for the same side. Kalaydus and Jaina are semi humans and can learn to be our allies and earn our trust just like any other newcomers get the chance to. Now everyone, get back to your posts. We have ACTUAL monsters to hunt and investigate."

The hunters were clearly not convinced but hesitantly dispersed again to return to their respective posts. With a salute to the commander they parted ways and the camp was bustling with activity again.

Jaina was slowly calming down in my arms as her claws tightly held on to my chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

"No… I pushed you to reveal yourself. You have nothing to apologize for." I sighed as I felt the weight of guilt crushing down on me. I expected a backlash, but I didn't consider if Jaina could handle it.

I was ripped out of my thoughts as the commander approached us. "And you two… come with me! Now!" He visibly held back his anger as he walked past us and ripped open the curtain to his office before going inside.

I could already imagine what was going to await us inside, but we'd have to get through this. I tapped Jaina's shoulder and carefully spoke to her. "We need to get inside now. Come on, we'll manage."

"Okay… just one more second." Her voice was still trembly and her claws dug even deeper into my chest to the point where I worried she might tear holes in it. Then again, with this shredded and burnt leather that might not have made too much of a difference.

"Sure… take your time."

After Jaina had finally calmed her nerves, we entered the commander's office to be greeted with a furious rant.

"What were you thinking! How did you get the idea that this was a good moment to reveal your identity?!"

I protectively stood in front of Jaina so she didn't have to get the full force of his anger. "We were frustrated, sir! We couldn't just keep a straight face and lie to these people like everything was business as usual!"

"Couldn't you…" He clenched his fist and slammed it against a wooden pillar to let out his frustration. "Couldn't you have at least waited until you got a better reputation around here? We would have revealed who you were, but only after you established yourself as valuable allies. You may have resolved the fire blight problem but that is still only one mission successfully executed. And now all of that goodwill is gone. We'll have to start from square one!"

I could hear Jaina gulp before she took a deep breath and stepped out from behind me. She held her left arm and didn't dare to look the commander in the eyes. "We understand that now. Maybe… maybe we can still fix this, right?"

Even the commander softened up when he saw Jaina bravely step out of the shadow. He ran a hand through his short, grey hair and walked up and down. "There's a possibility. We need to send you out on more missions. Maybe with other hunters so they see that you're useful and willing to take action. Actually, there is one thing I think you could do, Jaina."

"Anything!" She clenched her fists enthusiastically as she anticipated the orders.

"Alright. While the hunters have more of a grudge against you, I think the research team can see a lot of value in having you around. I'd ask you to report to the field research team and give them as much information about your species and the forest as you can think of. It's a small step but if you prove that you're valuable to have around, they might put in a good word for you."

"I'll… I'll do my best! I'll tell them everything I know! That'll make them accept me, right?"

The commander was clearly taken aback by her enthusiasm and even he couldn't bring himself to crush it. "I think so, yes. It'll definitely not hurt to build trust with at least one group around here."

"Got it!"

When she turned around to head out, Jaina stopped next to me and hesitated for a minute.

"Will… you be alright out there?" I asked worriedly but put up an encouraging smile.

She beamed up at me and smiled through her anxiousness. "I told you I had to challenge myself from time to time, right? I'll prove that I have value! No matter what it takes!"

I couldn't hold back a chuckle at her proud, beaming face. "Knock yourself out."

She cocked her head in confusion. "That doesn't sound like it'd do us a lot of good? I wouldn't even know how to do that." She said as she scratched her hair.

I was baffled and chuckled at little at her misunderstanding. "N…not literally. I meant you should give it your best."

"Oh… W…WILL DO!" She cutely saluted me with blissfully closed eyes and headed out.

And now… I was left alone with the commander.

"Finally… I thought she would cling to you like this forever."

"What, Jaina? I'm the only one she has around here. Of course she keeps close to me."

"Maybe, but she needs to learn to get by on her own. She's with more people than just you now. It's one of the reasons I sent her to the research team." The commander leaned against the pillar that he had previously knocked a significant dent into.

"So, what would be the other reasons then?" I asked as I leaned against the wall myself and folded my arms.

"We need to talk, Kalaydus. I can't have resistance like yours around here, and I don't mean that in a threatening way. This operation is built on trust and community and you willingly went against my orders. Before we continue our partnership, I need to know that I have your loyalty and that you'll have faith in my decisions. I didn't get to the position I'm in by being careless."

I took a second to respond but gave him my honest answer. "What if you're wrong? What if you make a mistake and make assumptions about something that you have no knowledge of?"

"Then you are free to question my orders. Not go straight against them." He answered in a calm and reserved manner. "A commander is nothing without men that are willing to follow him. My decisions will be firm but only after I take everything into careful consideration. Including the doubts of my men. You are a valuable asset and you clearly have a good head on your shoulders, even if it's a stubborn one. So… do I have your loyalty?"

I ran it over in my head. His point of view seemed to make sense, but there was something that was nagging me. "Under one condition."

"You're making conditions?" The commander asked provokingly.

"It's not as you think. It's more of a request. If anything goes wrong. If shit goes down… I want to be the one who receives the repercussions."

"Even if it was Jaina who messed up?" He asked blankly.

"Especially then. All of this. It all started with me. Jaina doesn't deserve to be punished for being thrust into a world she doesn't understand." I said with a trembling voice. "You and I can both see that she doesn't know very much about human customs. If she messes something up… it's not on her."

He smiled and shook his head as if what I was saying was pretty stupid. "You really know how to set yourself up for trouble. Understood. All future infringements on Astera will be leveled against you."

"Thank you, commander." I smiled in relief.

"Listen to yourself. Thanking me for making you responsible for someone else's mess-ups. You really are an unusual one. Welcome to the hunter's guild." He gave me a strong handshake along with a proud smirk.

"Well, that would be one issue settled. But I think you know that there is another one that needs your attention now."

I had a dawning feeling of what he was talking about. "The Anjanath girl, huh?"

He nodded firmly. "She woke up a few hours ago."

I closed my eyes and spoke through my teeth. "Commander? That thing about me being allowed to question your decisions…"

"Yeah?"

I put my hand to the bridge of my nose and gestured at him in frustration. "Why wouldn't you think of telling me that earlier!?"

But despite my visible disbelief, he barely showed any reaction at all. "We had more urgent matters at hand. It wasn't like she could give us any trouble anyways."

"Wait… what do you mean by that?"

"She is very much harmless right now. She won't be able to move or harm anyone."

"How did you… when did you… ahhh doesn't matter. Where is she?"

The commander stepped away from the pillar, holding his hands behind his back and his gaze thoughtfully aimed at the floor. "It would probably be better if you saw her for yourself. We're not making any progress with her anyways. Follow me, and keep your eyes on the ground while we're in public. We don't want to attract even more attention than there will inevitably be on you."

Those were his last words before we headed out. While we crossed over the public area where store vendors, hunters and scientists threw me suspicious sideway glances, me and him didn't exchange a single word. Just like he said, we tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and avoided running into anyone on the way further up into Astera. Winding stairways led further up the mountain that this camp was built around. We passed an empty smithy with hot running hearths. It was probably not manned yet after every member of staff was required on deck during the fire blight epidemic.

From said smithy though, we would only go further and further up the mountain. Up to the ship of the second fleet that was stranded on the very peak of the mountain. While we walked the last couple of rackety stairs, nobody else was around. It didn't seem like anyone else ever went up here.

Suddenly, the commander spoke up again. "I think we're in the clear now, Kalaydus."

"Good. I wanted to ask where we're going anyways."

"You see the ship up there on the mountain? The second Fleet one?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"After it got stranded up there, we dubbed it the gathering hub. Pretty ironic since it has been abandoned for the most part. It was supposed to hold an entire fleet's worth of hunters but our numbers were way lower than expected. Many hunters didn't make the crossing here and even in general we were comparatively few in numbers. Our Anjanath 'friend' is held up there to keep her as far away from the public eye as possible."

"So, what was she like? What did she say and most importantly… how did she take the transformation."

The commander sighed in an annoyed and frustrated tone. "I couldn't tell you."

"You can't tell? You were there when she woke up, right?"

"I was… and she did look very confused. But after seeing me and the Guild Marm she didn't give us anything. She kept glaring at us and no matter how many questions we asked her, she wouldn't say a word."

I looked at the stairs while I walked. What the commander told me, didn't sound like a good omen. I wrecked my head, thinking of how to approach this situation, but I guess there really wasn't anything to go on to make a plan. I would have to wing it and see where things went. "I think I should try talking to her myself. Maybe you should stay out of the room while I do that."

"And why would you want that?"

"I'm the last human she was in contact with before she transformed. If there is anyone she would talk to, even if it's in spite, it would be me."

"What if things go wrong?"

"I thought you said she'd be completely harmless?"

He was clearly reluctant to leave me alone with a prisoner but I could see on his face that he was giving in. "Trust has to go both ways, I suppose. Fine. I'll lead you to her and afterwards, I'll leave the room to you two. But don't start making out with her, Casanova." He smirked smugly and gave me a light punch on the shoulder.

It didn't really hurt, but out of reflex I started rubbing my arm while smiling back at him. "Hey, I didn't think you'd have a sense of humor. Well, I guess the times here don't really call for that either."

"Comedy is born from tragedy sometimes. You gotta pick your times to ease up a little. If I give in to that urge in front of my men, they won't take me serious enough to follow orders. Not that that stopped you."

"Yeah, I get it. Won't ignore your orders again, sir."

"If only I could believe that. I have a feeling this won't be the last time we'll run into each other. You're not the type to sit still and just accept things as they are. Which could be a good thing or… not. I'm sure we'll figure that out soon enough."

"I'm trying my best, commander. Me and Jaina will do our part around here."

He gave me a sideway glance and nodded approvingly. "I'm sure you will."

After talking the whole way up the massive amounts of stairs, I didn't even notice how high up we got. A rickety rope bridge we crossed to get to the deck of the broken ship led right over the top of the waterfall that powered the huge water wheel which in turn powered the conveyor system that transported goods from A to B.

While the commander kept walking I couldn't bring myself to not at least stop and appreciate the view.

The sight over the camp was breathtaking and after falling off an airship and surviving it, the fear of heights kind of takes a backseat. A couple of Mernos closely flew past the ship and into unknown territory beyond the ancient forest. Hunters were bustling around down there and either helped the shopkeepers setting up or handed in field research results to the scientists. And among all that chaos, I could see Jaina.

She sat on top of a scientist's desk, with a wyverian doctor excitedly dancing around her, admiring her from all angles and investigating every part of her body, human or monster parts equally.

Even from up here, I could see Jaina jerking up and cringing when he pulled on her tail, practically hearing her shrill squeaks as if she was right in front of me. I didn't know why, but seeing her like this made me crack a small, soft smile. Maybe it was because I felt proud of her putting herself through this so bravely, or maybe I just found it funny. I didn't know, but maybe it's one of these things you're not supposed to understand.

"Ahem! Kalaydus? We have other things to attend to?"

I heard the commander call out to me from behind as he went on ahead towards a large door in the bow of the ship. I looked over my shoulder and reluctantly stepped away from the rope. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I'll be right with you."

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't hesitant to step through the large door after it opened. The ship was not furnished yet and all of the cargo that must've been inside once had been transferred to the lower camp. With that being the case, the room I was led into was dark and barren with only a few small slits that the daylight shone in from. While said slits kept the center of the room lit, the far back was shrouded in darkness.

And from there, I could hear something… breathing and clanking.

The commander looked tense and stopped right in the middle of the lit area, holding his arm in front of me to keep me from going further.

He looked over to me and shook his head, telling me that going any further than this would be a bad idea. I kept looking into the darkness to see if I could make anything out, but before I managed to get a clear view, something moved in the far end of the room and was heading for us. Suddenly, out of the darkness, lunged the Anjanath girl. She looked exactly the way I found her, with the exception that now she was dressed in simple robes and I could see her wine red, glaring eyes as she tried to strike us with her claws.

An attack that backfired due to shackles on her wrists and around her throat, connected to the wooden wall in the back. She was quickly stopped in mid-air and plummeted onto the ground, knocked onto her back. She quickly returned back onto her feet though and got into a defensive stance with her leg claws digging into the floor boards and her arms held in front of her like she used to do in her monster form.

I jumped back in surprise while the commander seemed like he had witnessed this before. When I realized that she wasn't doing anything more and she just kept breathing heavily and flicking her eyes between the two of us, I got a little closer to her.

Her long, black hair had fallen over one of her eyes and her shackled neck already had imprints from the tight iron. When she laid eyes on me in the light where she could get a clear view of me, her angry, bitter face loosened up at least a little bit.

I tried to keep as composed as I could manage to let her know I meant no harm. "Hey, you remember me, right? I'm the hunter from the forest. I… did this to you. I promise I can explain all of this to you. We have a lot to discuss in general, actually."

She kept breathing heavily and looked at me with a lot of distrust. But even more than by me, she was bothered by the man she saw behind me. The commander. Her eyes often glanced in his direction and if looks could kill, hers would.

I turned around to the commander and asked him about her behavior. "Has she been that way ever since she woke up?"

"At least as soon as she saw me and the Guild Marm watching over her. She immediately fell into a furious rage and tried to attack us every chance she got."

"Why hasn't she used her fire breath then? She could've easily freed herself with it."

"She would have. But as we figured out, her fire sac has been damaged. I'm sure you know more about that, than I do."

I turned around to her and approached her. She reeled back a little as I reached out to her with her shackles clattering and her mouth forming into a spiteful scowl.

My movements became even slower and I spoke as unthreateningly as I could. "I'm just checking your neck, it won't hurt you."

To my surprise, she listened and stopped retreating away from me. Instead, she sunk onto the floor and knelt on it. She dejectedly looked away from me as she let me pull her neck collar down a little to reveal a crossed scar in the shape of an X that went right over her esophagus.

"Oh… I remember now. I hit you there, didn't I? Must've gone deeper than I thought it did if it destroyed your flame sac. Do these ever grow back?"

She answered simply with a shrug and still didn't dare to look my way.

"I suppose you wouldn't know that, huh? You've never been defeated like this before, have you?"

My words seemed to sting more than the wound did, seeing as she gritted her teeth and her clearly biting her tongue to keep herself from answering.

"If you want to say something, go ahead. Even if it's hatred, I'll take it. I'll take anything just please, talk to m…" In the middle of the sentence, something dawned on me. "You… you CAN still talk, right?"

At these words, she turned to me with a little bit of surprise on her face. She was apparently taken aback that I would even care to ask about her condition. For a few seconds, I was worried, but suddenly, she alleviated my fear and nodded.

"So, you CAN talk?"

Once more, she nodded and looked at the floor while clenching her fists on her lap.

"Do you not WANT to talk to me then?"

That appeared to be the right question and it seemed like she was willing to cooperate. She looked up at me and got back up to her feet. She raised her claw, not to attack, but to point at me. When she did so, she nodded. But then, she moved her pointed claw and aimed it at the commander behind me. And when she did that, she shook her head in defiance.

I understood what she was saying with that gesture and addressed the commander. "I think this is your que to leave, commander."

He begrudgingly scowled and turned around. "I don't like it, but I suppose I promised as much. I'll leave. We will talk later."

With a heavy creak, the large door opened, leaving a ray of light into the room that fully lit it up. But just as fast as it brightened up, the doors slammed shut and left the room in mostly darkness again.

I turned around to face the Anjanath girl once again only to be greeted by a pose that commanded respect.

Standing in the dim light of the room with crossed arms and a sinister look on her face, she sneered and blew a waft of steam out of her nostrils. "This ought to be interesting."

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 **[Here we are. Staying in Astera won and things are about to get heated. I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter. I know it's the littlest bit shorter than some of the other chapters but I thought that the Anjanath girl deserved a full chapter dedicated to her just like Jaina did.**

 **Now we only have to wait and see what she's like and how redeemable she truly is.**

 **Tune in next week and find out. For now, I am really exhausted. I worked on this for days on end to figure out a satisfying course of action for this story. Hopefully you enjoyed the end result as much as I did.**

 **I love writing this story and especially the feedback I get from you guys no matter how positive or negative it is. So, go ahead and let me know of any thoughts you may have about the series, good or bad. Follow and favorite my stuff if you DO enjoy it and I will see you guys again soon.]**


	12. Past and future problems

The tension within the spacious room was so thick you could've cut it with a knife. Both me and the Anjanath knelt across from each other, not breaking eye contact for even a second. Neither of us knew what to expect from the other and according to that, our trust was very fickle.

To my surprise it was the Anjanath who spoke first after all this silence from before. "I require a name." She stated, blankly.

I hesitated, but decided that giving away my name would not give her any advantage over me. "You can call me Kalay…"

"I know who YOU are." She interrupted me almost immediately. "The commander had spoken of you a few times and I would never forget the name of the man who defeated me. What I was referring to was that it's ME who requires a name so we can converse on the same level." Her eyes were sharply staring at me and her words were harsh and demanding. She had the aura of a warchief around her.

"What would YOU call yourself."

"Tsk, you humans are impossible. Put in at least some effort and bestow a name of your own onto your subordinate."

"Subordinate?"

She clenched her robes in frustration, tearing small holes into them with her tiny clawed hands that could almost be mistake for those of a human were they not covered in pink scales. "You are not familiar with the rules of the wild, are you?"

I gulped, fearing that she would break out in anger. But I was willing to sort this out in a civil manner and cooperated. "I'm afraid I'm not. But if you explain them to me, maybe I can follow them better."

She seemed content with that and spoke in a meaningful and respectful tone. "In the wild you are to submit yourself to the higher-ranking monsters or die. Unless you can prove yourself to be stronger, you are to always be subservient. You've defeated me, and thus I am at your service. I am your vessel and you shall be my superior. So, I will ask once again, please give me a name to call myself by."

I thought about it for a moment, I was still uncertain about her. She had a demeanor as dignified and restrained as I'd never seen before. I studied her mannerisms but just couldn't bring myself to imagine her as a regular bully who could've terrorized Jaina for such a long time. There had to be a reason behind it. "We should stick to something familiar. The hunters here call your kind the Anjanath so it would make the most sense to call you… Anja. Are you satisfied with that name?"

"It is not my place to judge."

"I am still asking you. I don't want you to be stuck with a name that you don't approve of." I said sternly, making her recognize that it was an order to answer genuinely.

She averted her eyes as she bit her lip and her cheeks flushed with frustration. It must've been embarrassing for her to be bossed around by a human. "I like the name. It sounds lovely." She finally wrung out.

I smirked slightly, glad that she approved and moved on to another matter. "You are aware that I was not alone in defeating you, right?"

"Ksk!" Anja clenched her teeth and even flinched at the mention of it. It was clearly a sore point for her.

"So, you should show Jaina the same respect then, right?" I pushed further, knowing that I could tickle something out of her.

And surely enough, I did. "Don't even mention this waste of air! You and I both know that the victory against me didn't rest on her shoulders! If she were on her own, she would do what she always does."

I held back any of my comments about her insulting Jaina like that, having to clench my fists hard to resist the urge. "And what would that be?"

She leaned in and tapped onto the floorboards to enforce her point. "I'll tell you exactly what! One of two things. Either she would've frozen up, or she would've run away for good. But one thing she wouldn't have had, would be a plan, or at least enough strength to justify not having one. She attacks out of nowhere when she thinks she has an advantage, before running away and hiding until she can feed on the prey that others left behind which she does NOT deserve!"

I gulped. Her harsh and matter-of-fact statement was imposing even to me and even though she was chained down, I had a feeling she could rip herself free if she was really willing enough. "Well, not like that matters now. You're here and you are… one of us."

"One of you? Phahaha!" She burst out into a bellowing laugh. "Aww, you humans are priceless! I'm a lot of things, but certainly not human. I respect you, but no matter how much you transform me or try to convince me of your ways, I'll always be a monster at heart. I will not bow to you, human."

"If you respect me, then you will learn to respect humans too! They have defeated many of you before and some have even slain elder dragons!" I finally snapped at her, losing my anger. Even she froze up the moment I raised my voice and there seemed to be a certain submissiveness to her attitude. "Many humans have fallen to monsters weaker than you, but many of your kind have been hunted down by them as well. Put yourself as high up on your horse as you will, but remember this: Your kind and theirs are equally strong opponents." I was breathing heavily and once again I could feel my breath grow hot. I coughed, clearing my throat from the sore feeling that suddenly emerged.

Anja finally dared to speak up again. "You… talk as if you weren't one of them."

After my short coughing fit ended, I raised my head once more and looked her straight in the eyes. "That's because I'm not. I am the same thing that you are. I'm only a half human. The blood of a Rathian flows through my veins. I haven't yet figured out what that means for me, but I will try to use it to build a bridge between our kinds. However I'm going to do THAT."

Anja sat there in silence, looking at the ground and nodding to herself. "Now everything falls into place. You are both human and monster and you want to fight for both sides. No wonder that your vision is so skewed and senseless."

"It's not senseless! We could be a new link. Something that either side can benefit from. The guild learns everything it needs to know about the wildlife and you get to experience the ways of how humans hunt. There are more rules out there than just the laws of nature, and eventually you're going to learn them too. So, I'll offer you this choice now. Submit yourself to our rules and live among us willingly, or hurt us as soon as you're freed and experience the raw strength of a whole guild of hunters."

Anja pondered over this choice as her claw wandered to the chain that was wrapped around her neck. It lightly rattled when she did and the shear sound of it, symbolizing her restrictions, irked her. "How free will I be if I do?"

"As free as any other in this camp."

"And you've got the authority to determine that?" She questioned me with a doubtful look in her eyes.

"I have direct contact with the commander. If I convince him that you're harmless, we can get you the same arrangement as Jaina's."

"Pff, on one level with this…"

I interrupted her quickly, leaving her no chance to further insult her. "Shut it. I don't want to hear any of it. You've been given your choice, now choose."

She grumbled to herself, blowing a load of hot air from her nostrils which made her reach for her throat. It must've been painful to create heat with her flame sac being broken. "Heh, I wouldn't be able to do much damage if I wanted to anyways." She chuckled through her soreness. "If you wish so… master. I will oblige and live with your kind."

I was relieved to hear it, yet… there was this itching feeling inside me that I shouldn't let her loose without supervision. A tricky situation if I wanted to convince her that she would actually be free. "I'm glad we could sort this out and… Anja?"

"Yes, master?" She asked as she combed back her hair which had covered one of her eyes before, flashing both of her wine-red irises that pierced through the dim darkness. Somewhere underneath all the hostility, I could almost see a sort of mysterious beauty. But I could not let myself be swayed by that.

I put my statement as blankly as possible to not appear softened. "Don't. Hurt. Jaina." I spoke slowly with immense emphasis on every word.

Anja smirked and closed her eyes as she lowered her head as if what I said was preposterous. "Contrary to her, master, I follow the rules I'm given. Maybe you want to try and convince her not to lose her temper and attack ME the moment she sees me." Anja slowly rose up and moved back into the shadows to sit on a bunk that was apparently put there for her to sleep on.

I followed up by getting back onto my feet and dusting myself off. "I will tell the commander of our conversation, I'll do my best to put in a good word for you."

She lazily waved at me as she rested her head on her hand. "Sure, go to your master, master. Let me know when I'm to be released. And bring some steak next time. I'm starving." She said with an almost haughty kind of tone like she was toying with me. And she was clearly having fun doing it. But suddenly her face turned stone cold serious. "One more thing though."

I turned around before I was ready to leave. "And what would that be?"

"I will follow the rules as promised, but my respect belongs only to you. If anyone wants to order me around, they will have to go through you, master. It's called chain of command for a reason after all." Her former expressionless face turned into a smug smile once more. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Bye bye." And once again, she waved me off by only opening and closing her small, clawed hand before lying down on her bunk with her arms behind her head and closing her eyes.

I put my hands onto the heavy door while I looked over my shoulder to watch her. But it appeared like she was truly done and just wanted to relax now. It was almost devious how confident and unperturbed she was.

I had no idea to what extent I could trust her words, but I had to go with what I got and figure out where to go from here, though I had an idea forming in the back of my head already. I had to tell the commander about it.

The gate swung shut with a creaking slam. The moment I stepped outside I immediately saw the commander at the head of the ship, tending to a Mernos that perched on a sitting pole. He petted its beak to calm it while he tied something around its neck. As I got closer, I realized what it was: A letter scroll, secured within a cylindrical container and linked onto the harness the Mernos was wearing.

He scratched its neck once he was done, and the Mernos flapped its wings before flying away, off the island and over the ocean.

I approached the commander. "What was that about? Where is he going?"

He stoically followed the Mernos with his gaze. "I'm sending message to the Guild on the mainland. After all of this development I have to inform them about the situation. The guild will create records for Semi humans and probably want to learn everything they can about yours and Jaina's kind. Actually, I meant to confer with you anyways. I have an assignment for you. A long term one as a matter of fact. But before we get to that, how did the talk with our prisoner go?"

I rubbed my neck uncomfortably and sighed. "Don't call her a prisoner, commander."

"What else would I call a person that we hold in a secluded room, who's restrained with chains?"

"Okay, I get your point. I just don't like treating her like this."

"You seem to be conflicted." The commander noticed immediately.

I chuckled awkwardly, trying and failing to hide my insecurity. "Heh, that's putting it lightly. I wanted to request something actually."

"Out with it, no sense in keeping it to yourself."

"…we need to set her free."

A moment of silence followed before the commander fully grasped what I was saying. "You mean… setting her free inside of Astera!? Are you mad?!"

"I know! I know! I can't really wrap my head around it either! But after talking to her, I'm having doubts. I don't think we're getting anywhere if we keep her restrained. She seems like she respects regulations and honor but she made it abundantly clear that the only one she trusts with anything is me. She is cool headed but on the other hand clearly has a deep love for strength and superiority. It's all over the place but I believe that if we want to get on her good side and get her to be of use to us, we have to show her that we respect her." I was exasperated after explaining all that and I had a headache thinking about how to best convey my thoughts. I leaned onto the railing of the ship and held my head.

To my surprise, the commander came up to my side and padded my shoulder before leaning on the railing as well. "I can relate to that feeling, Kalaydus."

I rolled over my head to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"She wouldn't be the first loose cannon in this camp, you know?" He smirked.

I blushed and cringed as I looked away in shame but I also managed to laugh about it. "So you'd be okay with it?"

He suddenly turned serious again and thoughtfully looked towards the horizon. "Not immediately, no. But I have a counter offer that ties in with the assignment I have for you."

"What is it?" I said readily as I moved my hand away from my forehead and folded my arms on the railing.

"The message I sent to the guild won't only mean that they know about semi humans. It'll also mean that the fifth fleet will arrive sooner than expected to deliver materials and of course the selected A-list hunters. The materials will be used to expand and furnish the gathering hub… which is where you and your monster companions will live."

My eyes widened as I heard that. "You're… going to hand the gathering hub over to us?"

"It is far enough away from the main camp to not cause immediate trouble if things act up and you and your companions will be condensed into one place that you can call home. That is not the only part of the assignment though…" He reached into his pockets and pulled out a notebook. He handed it to me and I flipped through the pages. There were dozens upon dozens of notes about known monsters, some of which I already met, and some that were completely alien to me. "Pukei-pukei? Tobi Kadachi? Kulu Ya Ku?"

"Yes, those are the ones that live in the Ancient Forest. As far as we know at least. We're still looking to expand to the rest of the New World and that's where your assignment comes in. I want you to complete this notebook. Anything noteworthy, you will write down in this book. Whether it's knowledge you've acquired on your own by watching and fighting them, or by tracking their traces and the knowledge that the research commission gives you. Maybe your future companions will even give you some intel on their own. Whatever way you can figure out."

"That's… an enormous task, commander."

"I'm aware of that, but I think that you have the bite and commitment to stick to it. Am I wrong in putting that trust in you?" He asked in an almost challenging way.

"N…no sir! Definitely not, but…"

"But?"

"But I am only a newbie. I have not have had enough training to fight some of the mightier monsters. Jaina was more of a luck based affair and with the Anjanath I would've almost been burned to a crisp."

He nodded understandingly. "I've already made arrangements for that. Once the 5th Fleet arrives, you will be assigned a hunting partner. They will show you the ropes and everything you need to know to fight even the worst of monsters."

My heart sunk for a moment in shock. "I will… I will be working with a hunter from the A-list?!"

"Indeed, one with skill beyond compare. You should look forward to it."

"I will, commander! I will. Holy shit! I've heard of the A-list hunters back in my village. They're heroes where I come from! Slaying elder dragons left and right, wearing their skins like trophies and their weapons like the fists of gods!"

"You're drooling, Kalaydus." The commander said as he let out a deep chuckle.

"What? Oh!" I wiped my mouth embarrassedly. "Sorry, I'm just… I'm just so excited about this opportunity."

"I have no doubt that you are. On the topic of gear though, you might want to upgrade yours the next time you get the chance. You want to make a good first impression, right?" He pointed at my armor, with burnt holes and chipped scratches all over it. "Your weapons as well. At some point, pure iron blades are not going to cut it. Literally. Your amulet should work with other weapons as well I think. The effect carries over to whatever it is attached to after all. It still amazes me after all this time. We can infuse a weapon with every element and buff in the book but this… this is something else." He said as he admired the Rathian amulet that dangled from the blade on my back.

"Well, I'm going to get going now. You can stay here and keep watch over the Anjanath girl."

"Anja, her name is Anja." I threw in casually.

"Anja then. Keep an eye on Anja, she'll be free to roam around up here, but no further. I will let Jaina know that she will find you up here. I'll send her up here along with some makeshift beds so you can start to get comfortable here. Later on, I'll make arrangements to link the gathering hub to the chain lift network so you don't have to take the stairs all the time. I think that should be all for now, rest until the 5th fleet arrives and make yourself useful around camp. Best to make as good an impression as you can."

He was about to step down the stairs, heading back to the camp but I had one more thing I had to tell him. "Hey… commander?"

"Is there still something the matter?"

"Yeah… thank you."

"For what?" He chuckled.

"Do you really need to ask? Not casting me and Jaina out. Giving us a home. Giving us a second chance to prove ourselves and now…" I waved around the notebook. "…you're giving me an opportunity like this."

He smiled kindly and nodded. "I wouldn't do all these things if I didn't see future potential in you, Kalaydus. Just make sure to repay this trust with results that I can be proud of." Those were his last words before he parted and finally disappeared down the mountain.

It's been a long time since I felt this content with everything. It would be a lot of work for sure. Straightening out Anja, gathering these notes and constantly upgrading my gear… I loved it. The more I thought about it, the more I was looking forward to my future, more than I ever thought I would. I was finally a real hunter.

With those thoughts, rumbling in my head, I watched the sun slowly set as the hours melted away. When it touched the water on the horizon, I heard someone approach the gathering hub from the stairs and I knew that it could only be one person.

And indeed, as I looked towards the rope bridge that led to the ship, I saw Jaina with fluffy sleeping bags in her arms. She was slumped over a little, seeming like she had been traumatized. Her eyes were watery and empty as she desperately looked around.

Finally, after reaching the end of the rope bridge, she saw me. I waved at her with a smile and the moment I did, she threw the sleeping bags onto the deck and ran at me full force and broke into tears. "KALAYDUUHUUUUUUS!"

I coughed as she rammed into me and almost knocked the wind out of me. She threw her arms around me and full on started wailing painfully. "I missed you so, so much! I…I…the… doctor… bwaaahhh!"

She was completely choked up when she rubbed her face into my chest. I smiled softly and gently hugged her while I rubbed her back until she was calmer. "I missed you too, Jaina. I'm glad you're back. What's with the doctor?"

She looked up at me with shaky eyes and a frowny pout on her lips. "He… he touched me in bad places, Kalaydus! He touched my tail! I swear I didn't want him too! You're the only one I want to touch my tail, I promise!"

I almost broke down laughing but saw that she was entirely serious about it. "You… tsk!... you really don't need to feel bad about it. I don't blame you for that. He probably didn't know that it was sensitive."

She choked up even more and embraced me tighter. "Hic! Oooooo, I feel violated!"

I was so happy to feel her close to me again and ran my hand through her hair to get a feel for it again. "There, there. You know what? We can stay close like this for as long as we want today. There will be no one stopping us up here. Knock yourself out."

She smiled through her tears and looked up at me with that same, innocent smile. "That meant I should give it my all, right?"

"You remembered that, huh?" I patted her head, making her smile even more.

"Don't mind if I do." She sighed almost as if in relief that she could hold me as tight as she wanted and not having to let go anytime soon. "I know these things I brought are separate beds but… can we at least sleep close to each other tonight?"

"Obviously. I wouldn't have it any other way." I held her cheeks with both of my hands and wiped away her slowly drying tears with my thumbs. I leaned down and pressed my lips onto hers, holding her almost as close as she was holding me.

There was a lot ahead of us to deal with. But tomorrow would be another day too.

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 **[Hoh boy. There were quite a few things going on between the last chapter and this one. Not all of them having to do with this story, but a lot has happened behind the scenes.**

 **For one, I would like to use the opportunity and promote another story series I started recently. Something completely unrelated and something I haven't really done before. A smut series with actual, normal humans. Shocking, I know.**

 **Have you ever heard of Huniepop? If so, you would know that it was a sort of dating simulator where your goal was to get every girl in your hometown laid. Normally not something I'd be into, but I recently got around to playing it after a friend recommended it to me and the characters in there were so likeable and interesting that I decided to make a series of alternate endings basically making it the opposite of the harem based game that it is. It follows a main character who wants to find a permanent girlfriend instead of being a player like in the game. What follows are several arcs where each girl from Huniepop gets with him separately and gets a happily ever after.**

 **I know I'm a bit late on the Huniepop train but if you think you'd be interested in that, check out: Huniepop: Alternate Endings.**

 **With that shameless promotion out of the way, there is a minor thing going on in the reviews and it's something that some people had been wondering about. The question about me using male monsters like Rathalos or Teostra and who I will pair them up with.**

 **So, basically, it's going to go like this. Monsters that are inherently male, will stay male after they're transformed. The new original female character that I asked for recently will be paired up with them, creating a sort of reverse harem of her own. I won't genderbend Kalaydus, but instead I will have chapters from the first person perspective of Aela, the new A-list hunter, where she gets to develop a relationship with the male monsters that Kalaydus had transformed. She will basically become a second main character in a sense.**

 **It won't happen immediately, but some day. We'll see once we get to it.**

 **That was a lot of information, but I hope that settles a few confusions some people had.**

 **Now to the light part. Thank you for reading. Really, it's incredible how this story exploded recently. I'll see you next week when I post the next chapter where we're going to have a meeting between Jaina and Anja. It's gonna get rough.**

 **I'll see you then. And as always remember to review follow and favorite if you would. But I mean you don't have to… no big deal… I can handle it if you don't… I'm a big boy… ;-;**


	13. Gearing up Part 1

The morning sun can be cruel sometimes. I've never been an early bird kind of guy, but nowadays I have to force myself to be one. If I wanted to get a head start and impress people, I kind of had to. And it would have been a lot easier to get used to this if there wasn't this temptation to just stay in bed and cuddle some more with a cute Great Jagras that during the night snuggled up so close to you that your two sleeping bags might as well had been one.

Yes, Jaina and I had stayed close together the entire night, and while I could hardly complain about that, now that I had to get going it was really hard to get away from her.

Her arms were slung around my neck like a vice, reaching over from her own sleeping bag into mine.

I chuckled as I carefully weaseled myself out of my ensnarement and peeled myself out of the sleeping bag. In her sleep, Jaina clawed at my empty bed, having an annoyed frown on her face before she once again relaxed and continued to snore peacefully.

A soft smile crept over my lips as I watched her. Right now though, there were more pressing things on the agenda. I strapped on my hole-filled leather armor as I laid out an organized to do list in my head.

The armor obviously made me aware of the first point that I should get sorted out: Visiting the smithy and getting a new armor fixed up.

After that, I need to visit the cook and have him prepare a few slices of freshly roasted steak to send up to the gathering hub for lunch.

Then there was the so far last point on my list and I already dreaded that one.

Releasing Anja and getting her and Jaina to get along. Even just saying those words out loud in my mind sounded like it would be a disaster. Anja had decided to stay and even said she would behave herself but how far that good behavior would go once she met Jaina… I was unable to tell.

"Nothing's for sure I guess. And winging it so far hasn't killed me. I suppose I'll cross those bridges once I get to them. How bad could it turn out, right?" My gaze turned towards Jaina as I tried to console myself.

In lieu of me, she was now clutching the furry pillow in her sleeping bag and held it so tightly that you could almost worry about the seams coming apart. She mumbled something in her sleep which I couldn't make out, but even without that knowledge, the simple innocent image was enough to put my mind at ease.

"I'm sure she'll be alright. We'll figure out a way to work together somehow. I crouched next to her bed and caringly ran my fingers through her hair. Her formerly slightly twitching eyes settled down a bit and even a soft smile crossed her lips. "Be back soon." I spoke to her in a quiet tone as I got up and made my way into camp to cross off my to-do list.

When I descended the stairs, I could already hear Astera bustling with activity. It was to be expected now that the fire blight plague was cleared and the smithy was back in full action. Now people could finally turn in the spoils of their hunts and get some new armor and weapons forged. I've always been amazed back home when I saw the gear some hunters had gotten during their hunts.

Some of the weapons I saw were even bigger than a person. I mean I'm not that much to compare to since I'm average height and anything but a heavyweight but I'm still talking about MASSIVE weapons here.

The blacksmiths of the guild had always been really creative when bending parts of gigantic monsters into gear. Just slayed a ginormous, world-eating monster? Give them a few scales here, a membrane there and they're going to fashion you the best, form-fitting, hard-hitting stuff you've ever put your hands on. And I was about to put my very own hands of some of that stuff myself. Needless to say, I was excited.

Conveniently enough, the stairs ended right next to the smithy and right as I arrived, I could smell the hot waft of glowing hot steel burning in my nose. The water-powered machines were hammering away, crushing different pieces of different monsters into usable materials before smelting them in a massive furnace.

A small group of experienced hunters just exited out of the bustling building as they admired the new armors that they were wearing. You could feel the heat radiating from them, meaning they were freshly forged.

One guy in particular was wearing noticeably fortified red armor built out of plates and spikes from a monster. His head was hidden by a sturdy helmet with a black mask and a steel visor.

"Wohohoh man! You look absolutely badass. What is this armor?!" One of the guys, who was with him, yelled in excitement.

"It's Rathalos armor. There was one roaming around in the Ancient Forest. Once I saw it on the notice board, I knew I had to slay that thing!"

"Damn! You look like you could withstand a meteor falling onto you!" A third guy awed as he knocked on the thick plates.

I chimed in as I approached the group, "They're right, that's an awesome piece of armor. Must've been a really tough fight. Good on you!"

Almost instantly, I could feel the atmosphere freeze up and the chatter died down. The three of them gave me sideways glances and none of them pleasant. "Urgh, it's the monster lover."

I raised an eyebrow as I questioned the nasty stares I got. "What's the problem? Did I do anything?"

"Don't play dumb, half blood. You should know just as well as anyone around here why you're not welcome."

I groaned and let out an annoyed breath. "I'm a hunter just like you are. Just because I happen to have monster blood in me, doesn't mean that that changes."

"You say that now. How long until it gets to you, this thing that you sleep with? Yeah, we know that you're already in bed with it. Can't be that long until you take their side and start fighting alongside them against us!" The man in the Rathalos armor mocked me, looming over me to look imposing.

"Monsters hunt other monsters too, you moron! There isn't a SIDE for me to be on!" I emphasized my words as I tried to maintain my composure. I could already feel my fist twitching. Even though I would've been at a complete disadvantage with him wearing that armor, there was an urge to fight him brewing inside me.

He looked back at his friends as if to see if they could believe what they were seeing. Like I was a peasant talking to royalty. He turned back to me and got up so close to me that his armored chest bumped into me. "You would be better off shutting that mouth, buddy. You're walking on extremely thin ice as it is."

I was just about to pull out my blades as an unexpected voice called out from inside the smithy. "S'cuse me, big shot! Would ya turn it down a notch out there?! Ye might wanna piss off and stop loiterin' in front of ma forge if ya don't want me ta tell 'em about the care packages yer mum always sends for ya."

The man grunted, unexpectedly reeling back away from me. I could see that he was affected by the unknown person's words. He turned to look towards the smithy, speaking to the man who apparently ran it. "Dammit old man, can't you fucking keep to yourself for once? This isn't your damn business!"

"Keep talkin' kid and I'll show 'em the cute little notes she puts into 'em too. Now scram and stop botherin' me customers!"

"Krrk…" The man froze up and even despite the armor, you could tell that he was breaking into a nervous sweat. "You don't… actually have some of those, do you?"

"What is he talking about, dude?"

"Nothing! We're leaving! You got lucky, half-blood!" He grunted, angrily stomping away as his confused companions reluctantly followed him down the stairs into the main area of Astera. I had to admit, it was pretty damn ironic to see such a well-armored man be so vulnerable.

I turned around the corner to see who the man was who got him to stop. When I did, there was an older man sitting at the side of a long conveyor belt that transported materials in front of him. Despite his visible age, his body was anything but saggy. In fact, he was in much better shape than I was with massive muscles and strong, bulging arms. His body was riddled with scars and sweat was pouring all over it, making it glisten with the light of the flames behind him. His chin was completely covered in curled hair from his full, black beard while his head was completely bald and an eyepatch covered up his right eye.

He was only sparsely clothed with a throw-over vest, leather coils around his waist and iron gauntlets for smithing. His face was gruff and with his one good eye, he looked up to see me.

I was quick to get inside and rubbed my neck in embarrassment. "Hey umm… thanks for intervening there. I'm sorry you had to be bothered by something that unnecessary."

He didn't answer, instead he squinted. His eyes were apparently a bit cloudy from the constant heat. Once he apparently saw what he wanted to, his face lit up with a realization. "That was YOU out there boy? Ye just can't stay outta trouble can ya?"

"Wait, what?" I wondered how he could possibly know me. I've never been to the smithy when it was open. When I came closer though and the waves of heat eased up a little, I finally noticed it. "No way! Sullivan?!"

"As he lives and breathes, kid!" He proudly proclaimed as he stomped the ground with a smithing hammer he rested his right hand on.

I chuckled in disbelief. "What the hell? I haven't seen you ever since the Fourth Fleet accident. The commander told me you were almost burnt to death. How did you end up in the smithy?"

"Old man's a lot tougher than ya give 'im credit for. Shrapnel hit me and got me legs lamin', my hair's burned off, my beard's singed and my right eye's… pretty much useless now, but thankfully this old geezer can do more than slice up a monster. Got sum strong arms and I'm gunna use 'em as long as I can swing a hammer."

As he so proudly said that, I felt an immense guilt rush through me. "Shit man, I'm really… sorry. I mean you can't hunt like that anymore, can you?"

He sunk his head for a second as he sorrowfully looked at his numb legs but shook it soon after. "Nay, boy. But I've had enough sympathies. Would've been a matter of time before age got ta me instead of a monster. Makes for hell of a more interestin' story as well."

I smiled weakly and got some relief from his optimism, but I could tell from the shift in his expression that the friendly conversation was over. "So… about what happened outside there. I wanna talk to ya about that and give ya some advice. Back down from stuff like that."

I was taken aback by the sudden suggestion and immediately went on the defense. "What? I'm supposed to just take stuff like that? If I let guys like him step all over me, how am I supposed to ever get someone to take me serious here?"

"He's a fresh high ranker, them guys are always cocky like that an' think they're tough shit. There's nothin' fer ya to gain from fightin' a guy like that."

I crossed my arms and complained in frustration. "I didn't want to gain anything. I just… haaa… I just wanted to get a little bit of respect."

"And how much respect do ya think ya get when you're put down or thrown out the gates? Things're tense right now, kid. They're only looking for a reason ta get ya in trouble."

I sighed scrunched my face in disappointment. I knew he was right, but the constant suppression and distrust was starting to get to me.

And then, Sullivan served me yet another kernel to the pile. "I wanna make this perfectly clear to ya as well. I don't trust ya…"

"You and half of Astera, Sullivan." I muttered, seeing that it was pointless to try and convince him otherwise. It would take a lot more than just saying that we're not going to do anything to actually convince people of that.

"But I don't think yer bad folk." I raised my head at his surprising words. "I might think that ye and yer monster friends are weird moods of nature."

"Mhm."

"And you have sum really bad attitude."

"Uhuh."

"And yer way too confrontive."

"Yup, just keep piling."

"And I don't 'ave that much trust in yer ta even lift sumthin heavier than ole Poogie."

"Alright, alright I get it!" I chuckled uncomfortably as I stopped him from listing anything more.

He bellowed a short laugh as well and smirked. "I'm not gunna treat ya any worse than that Rathalos fella, that's fer certain." He joked as he wiped some soot from underneath his nose.

My mood lifted a little bit at that moment and I shot him a small, genuine smile. "I… really appreciate that."

He gave me a firm nod before he went back to talking brass tax. "Now enough of the sentimentalities, ya didn't come 'ere fer a nice chit chat, ye want somethin' made?"

I hastily fumbled to grab my pouch and approached the conveyor belt. "Actually, I need a new set of armor."

"A full one? Well, I can see that yers ain't fairin' too well. What can I make ya? Leather? Chainmail?"

"Well… Anjanath actually."

"…" His face went completely blank. "Anjanath armor?"

"Yup."

"You?"

"Uhuh."

"Yer jokin', right?"

I wordlessly flipped my pouch and let the flood of Anjanath materials pour out onto the conveyor belt. Sullivan's mouth hung open as he slowly inspected the huge pile from bottom to top. It was an entire Anjanath body's worth of materials after all and even in its cut-up form, it spilled over the edges. "Afraid not. Think you can make something sturdy out of this?"

He was still in disbelief and had to shake his head to come back to his senses. "Yer kidding! I can make ya ten armors outta this. How the hell did ya get yer hands on this."

I shrugged, "I guess luck?"

I half expected him to throw the stuff back in my face but instead: "Bahahaha! Boy, ye either 'ave the biggest luck under the sapphire star or yer secretly a master hunter. Ye killed an Anjanath with yer weak-ass little blades and a bog-standard armor?"

"Suppose so, maybe I'm tougher than you give me credit for as well." I said as I joined in on his laughter by chuckling along.

He slapped the surface of the conveyor so hard that even more of my materials slid onto the floor as he burst out into another fit of laughter. "Ahhh, maybe yer ain't that bad after all. Knew ya could hit an unmovin' pole… barely. Never even dreamed that ya could slay an Anjanath. Ye know what, I'm gunna make ya that armor and if it ain't a fluke, I'll even give ya some new blades on top 'o that fer free. Now how much do ya have? Let's haggle."

I checked my money pouch to see what reserves I had left. "Well, I've got 10000 Zenny on me that I took from back home."

"I don't wanna make ya broke, kid. Let's make it 5000 fer the armor and once ya get slayin', with ma gear, ye'll be rolling in cash ta make it up ta me with."

"Seriously? Thanks, Sullivan."

"At least one favor can't hurt! Thanks ta ya, I've gotten away with my life from that fire blight after all. Some folks 'round 'ere don't recognize that, but I ain't a man that slacks on his debts." After saying that and giving me yet another hearty, confident smirk, he turned around to the back of the forge and yelled out with a commanding tone. "Horace! Barnes! Get yer asses in 'ere!"

Quickly, two men with smithing aprons and headbands emerged from behind the massive forge and stood at attention. "Yes sir?!"

"We've got a new order comin' in. Full set o' Anjanath armor! Get workin' mates!"

"Hraaah!" They yelled alongside him with excitement as they each grabbed a pile of material and sent it along the production line. Some of it went into the smelter, some was worked on the anvils and other parts were cut into shape to be attached to the armor.

So many processes were happening in front of me that I couldn't possibly follow it all.

Sullivan got up from his stool at the conveyor belt and limped over to the anvil as he used his hammer as a crutch. Once he was there though, he showed no sign of weakness and worked the glowing steel and hardened scales with his hammer to bang them into shape. He was obviously the man who put the perfect finishing touches on the pieces.

The glowing hot parts were thrown into a pool of water before finally being placed on the conveyor belt where they rolled along and ended up in front of me.

The three men wiped their sweat from their foreheads but apparently Sullivan wasn't quite done. He pulled an array of levers and a metal grappling arm shot down to pick up a pile of bones which it swiftly threw into a large melding pot. I could hear grinding and hammering from the enormous apparatus. Sullivan went back behind the machinery and his hammering emanated throughout the echoing room.

When he returned, while he leaned on his hammer, in his other hand he held a pair of rectangular bone blades, one edge of them deftly sharpened and the other edge dull but tipped with spikes. The handle was wrapped in a mix of Anjanath scales and black, bristly fur.

My mouth hung open as I watched Sullivan put those gorgeous looking blades next to my armor and shot me a satisfied smile as he gruntingly sat back down on his stool. "Haaaa… I reckon this should serve ya a lot better than that flimsy stuff yer usin'."

I had to smack my lower jaw to put it back into place. "I… I think you're right there!" I slid my hand over the amazing, smooth chest plate and the neck fur that decorated it. The pink scales blended incredibly well with the hardened, polished steel. "You sure know what you're doing old man."

"I don't do half assed jobs, kid. By the way though, ye should know that there's a lot of leftover materials lyin' around now. Whatcha wanna do with that?"

I looked over his shoulder and saw a still plentiful pile of fur and scales. Though at least the bones and fangs seemed to have been used up. "You don't happen to know something about making regular clothes, right?"

His eyebrows raised up a bit in surprise. "What?"

"You know, something that doesn't hinder movement too much that you can wear at any time other than battle but still sturdy enough to keep your body tense. You know… something like a corset?"

"…"

"…"

"Yer not going drag, kid are ya?"

I immediately waved my hands in front of me. "NO! No! It's not for me! I just need it for a… well I don't really know if I could call her a friend now, but… I need it for her."

Sullivan looked over his shoulder and I could guess from his expression that he was piecing the puzzle together in his mind. "So… that's how ye got so much stuff at once. Ye didn't kill the Anjanath, eh? Ya made her one of yer kind, didn't ya?"

I reluctantly gave up on coming up with an excuse and just told him. "Yeah, she's up in the Gathering Hub with me and Jaina. We've got her locked up right now, but I can't keep her trapped forever. I think she won't cause trouble and if I'm going to set her free, I just… don't want her to have to walk around in rags."

I prepared myself for being berated for bringing an Anjanath into Astera. Lord knows it was a huge risk to take. But instead, Sullivan just leaned back and nodded before he stiffly sat back up again. "Well, I'm not a tailor, kid. These hands are made fer smithin' not sowin'. If ya want though, I can give ya some tools an' some adhesive to make sum yerself."

I cocked my head in honest surprise. "You're… you're not angry about me taking an Anjanath into Astera? Why?"

"Boy I've been through a Volcano shootin' balls of lava at me. As long as ya keep that shit away from me, ye won't hear me complainin'. I have a warnin' fer ya though." He said ominously as he leaned on his legs. "If I ever learnt anythin' from huntin' beasts like those brute wyverns, it's that ye don't get in the way of 'em when they're angry. So if she is anythin' like that, don't stand between 'er and what she's angry about. If yer the thing she's angry about… run."

As his words rang through my head, I defensively dismissed them, although a certain sense of preemptive dread remained. "I… I think she can change that attitude. She is half human now, she can learn to control herself."

Sullivan leaned back with an almost wise smile. "That's the part that got me worried too, boy. How does the saying go? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." He chuckled to himself as I packed up my remaining material as well as the tools he promised me. Admittedly his words left a dreadful feeling in my stomach, even more so than before. I constantly kept pushing away the thought that Anja could turn out violent, but I became more and more doubtful of my conviction.

I shook my head and tried to put my mind to something else. "Anyways, again thanks for everything, Sullivan. Pleasure doing business with you." I reached over the conveyor to extend my hands to Sullivan.

Which he promptly welcomed with a hearty handshake. "Pleasure's all mine, boy. Look out fer yer rear in the future, alright?"

"I'll sure try, can't make promises on that though."

"Hehehe, see ya later, kid. I have a feelin' I'll see ya plenty a times."

And with that, I grabbed my blades and armor, heading out of the forge, mentally making a tick behind the first order of the day.

Coming out of the forge, I now wore my Anjanath armor. It fit perfectly and even had a slinger attached to it. I guess that it's the standard for armors in the New World. I decided to not wear the helmet for now and placed it in my pouch which apparently contained a portal to infinity by now.

I already knew that the second order wouldn't take nearly long and then there was only one thing left to do.

As I left the forge, I looked for a quiet, cool place to refresh myself after the hot air in the forge and found one on a bridge that led towards the Palico kitchen. Even from here I could smell the sweet stew, roasted steaks and steamed fish. Even just being near this place and without seeing the food, my mouth was already watering.

A massive stone plate roasted over a crackling fire on top of which a posse of cute tiny palicoes prepared meals for the hungry hunters and they were led by what could only be described as a bodybuilder of a Palico. He wore a red bandana, a cooking apron and one of his eyes had a deep scratch running over it. I looked down at my own body and almost had to laugh at myself. "If even the palicoes around here are that buff, maybe I have to start working out."

I wandered over to the stone plate, settling down on one of the seats surrounding the platter.

The muscular… excuse me, meowscular chef focused his surprisingly intense eye on me and yelled, sorry again, meowed at me. "Nyan nyan, nyanyan nyan! (Welcome to the kitchen, what are you having today!?)"

"I'm not eating, not here at least. I wanted to make an order though."

"NYANYAN NYAN! NYAN NYAN NYAN? (Meowscular chef is here to satisfy all of our customer's needs! What can I do for you?)" He meowed with startling enthusiasm.

"I need 3 steaks, delivered up to the Gathering Hub. Should be around lunch time now, right?"

"NYANYANNYANYAN! NYAN! (With Meowscular chef it is always lunchtime! We will make it just purrfect!)" Upon hearing this, his smaller friends raised their wooden spoons and spatula's as if they were heading into battle and scrambled around looking for oils, spices and big chunks of meat.

It was amazing to watch them, but as time passed and I noticed that the cooking would take a little bit longer, I used the time to flip through the pages of my notebook.

Most of the pages were still empty, space left for monsters that we haven't yet discovered. There were plenty of entries before that as well though. All the monsters known from the mainland that have been spotted in the New World mixed in among some of the new ones.

"Mernos, Great Jagras, Rathalos, Anja…nath…" I stopped reading as I got to this page because there was a small key stuck to it. I peeled it off and laid it out in the palm of my hand. It had to be something the commander left in there for me, and I could already guess what the key was for.

I raised my head towards the Gathering Hub on top of the mountain and decisively slammed my hand onto the stone table as I got up. "Right! I've put this off for long enough."

I heard the chef call out to me from behind with a confused look on his face and his arms crossed. "Nyanyan? Nyanyan nyan?" (You're leaving? Did we get something wrong?)"

"No, but there's something that needs to finally be done. I'll be around another time!" I paced away from the kitchen, full of energy and determination, before I stopped in my tracks and turned heel. I came back to the table and signaled the chef with an OK sign. "It already smells delicious though." I reassured him and once again turned away, feeling all the confused eyes of the patrons on my back.

And with that awkwardness probably bearing on my mind for eternity, I ascended the stairs up to the Gathering Hub. The long, long stairs. God did I hope that they would soon install those chainlifts.

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **And here we are.**

 **Well, I didn't get it ALL done yet, but I felt a bit bad to not post anything when I promised it to you, so I split this chapter up into a two-parter. Gearing up Part 2: Electric Boogaloo will be coming out this weekend when I finally ironed out all the things that I want to adjust a bit more. Hopefully until then, I come back to my senses and don't actually call it that.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this one and you're looking forward to the other half of this chapter.**

 **If you did, please follow and favorite me and my stuff and leave a review with your thoughts and suggestions.**

 **A minor thing by the way, something that has absolutely no bearing for now, but I have a question that might come into play at some point. I haven't exactly decided on using a character like that, but if I did introduce a girl that treats Kalaydus kind of like a big brother, should I go full weeb and use the term onii san, or just have her refer to him with big brother and his name?**

 **Like I said, no bearing for now and maybe I'll leave it out completely, I've just been thinking about that for a bit.**

 **That's it for now and I'll see you again, very soon.**


	14. (Broken chapter)

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	15. Gearing up Part 2

After another long, arduous climb up to the Hub, I reached the deck and found Jaina still in her sleeping bag. Even though it was around noon, she seemed to still not have slept enough. I didn't know if it was exhaustion from the stress in the new environment or if she was just having a really nice dream that she just didn't want to get out of yet.

Either way, I decided to try and wake her up as gently as I could. I lied down next to her, right across of her lax, cute sleeping face.

I reached over to her, cupping her cheek in my hand as I softly leaned in to place a waking kiss on her lips.

Upon feeling my lips on hers, Jaina sleepily opened her eyes and cracked a smile as soon as she noticed me.

I smiled back and combed a lock of hair that was hanging over her eye out of her face. "Morning, Jaina. Slept well?" I spoke softly.

She dreamily answered… "Yeah…" before she put on a pouty little frown. "…but then you left!" And swiftly she playfully nudged my chest with a weak fist punch.

"Hehe, ow! How did you even notice that?" I laughed through the not very effective attack.

"Don't think that I'd ever not notice when you're gone! Don't do that again! I feel all lonely when I wake up." She sulked as she curled her tired, warm body up next to me.

I cuddled with her and cradled her head which she nuzzled underneath my chin. "Yeah, I know. Sorry. I'll make sure to tell you next time. Maybe you'll hear me in your dreams." I chuckled.

"I already do." She cooed so cutely that I was worried about my heart actually melting.

I tried to ignore my incoming diabetes as I heard a chain rattling near us. It was the small transportation lift for Palicoes that led up to the center of the ship's deck. When I heard it, I looked down at Jaina. "Hey, you hungry?"

She wiped the sand out of her eyes. "Sure, I'm always ready for breakfast."

I laughed. "It's around noon by now. It's time for lunch."

She smiled contently and rolled onto her back as she stretched her arms. "Ahhhh! Even better! That means we get to eat even more!" With newfound energy, she jumped onto her feet and excitedly threw over her poncho.

When the rattling of the chains became slower and creaked to a halt, a small hatch opened in the center of the ship and a tiny Palico, carrying a huge, covered up platter of food, emerged from it. It waddled over to one of the many tables that surrounded the center and placed its heavy load on it.

The Palico exhaustedly wiped its forehead before flashily popping off the cover, revealing three steaming plates of bubbling, sharply roasted steaks. Me and Jaina were lured towards it as a waft of the tastiest meat we've ever smelled drifted over to us.

The Palico presented it to us with an enthusiastic meow and looked quite proud of what he brought us. I walked up to the table and reached over it to scratch the adorable palico's little head. He blissfully leaned into it and purred in satisfaction. "Hey, good job little guy. Give the meowscular chef my compliments. If it tastes anywhere near as good as it smells, I don't even have to take a bite to know it's amazing."

The palico once again meowed and put its paw up to its forehead as a proud salute. With a smile on its face, the palico jumped back into the hatch and headed back towards Astera again.

Me and Jaina took seats next to each other on this large round of tables. Seeing as this was once supposed to hold way more than just two people it made sense for there to be so many of them.

"Feels kind of weird, doesn't it?" Jaina spoke up.

"Hm?"

"You know… it feels kind of empty with just the two of us here. I mean, I don't mind being alone with you, but can you imagine how bustling it would be if these tables were full of people?"

"Yeah, I can see that. Maybe, with the kind of mission we have, one day it'll be like that. Heh, imagine that. A full round of tables filled with half monsters. It'd be crazy."

Jaina gazed over all the empty seats, visibly visualizing how it would be if they were all filled with people. "I think it might be… nice. Almost like… a family." Looking at her from the side, I could catch a glimpse of an almost hopeful smile. She wanted this to be a reality. Although I knew it might not end up being as peaceful as she might think it'd be, I would never have had the nerve to take that fantasy away from her.

"I think that'd be nice too." I spoke softly as I fantasized along with her. I knocked on the table to get us back on track. "Well, we better eat now before our steaks get cold."

Jaina took one of the steaks in between her claws and shrugged. "I don't mind cold meat. I've always eaten cold meat out in the wild. When meat lies out in the sun for too long and grows warm, it gets all yucky. Bbrrghhh!" She shuddered a little bit at the thought.

I chuckled. "Well, there's a big difference between meat that's lying out in the sun for too long and meat that's cooked."

"Different how?" Jaina cocked her head.

"Well,…" I pointed at the slab of meat in her hands with a knowing smirk. "…try it."

Jaina looked at me suspiciously before her eyes turned to the steak. "Well, I guess it doesn't SMELL too bad." Slowly and carefully, Jaina opened her mouth but instead of biting into it, she stuck out her tongue and gave the steak a precautious lick.

Her eyes widened. Her claws buried themselves in the meat and her whole body tensed up like she'd just been struck by lightning. She squeaked in ecstasy. "OH MY GOD!"

"Told you."

"What have I been missing!? What is this? How does it taste THIS good!?"

"Herbs, spices, oils, you can get a lot more out of meat when you cook it right. Remember how you told about how good it tasted when the juicy fat of the meat dissolved in your belly? Well, when you cook meat, it boils to the surface and makes everything taste 10 times better. You see that moisture that's crackling on the surface, that's what I'm talking about. And it mixes with all the delicious spices you put on there."

Jaina looked at me with panting breath and saliva literally running from the side of her mouth. "I NEED to eat this RIGHT NOW!" She set off to, apparently, make the first bite. But as she tried to approach this, she hesitated. "How do I…" She opened her mouth and tried to dislodge her jaw as she pressed her lips against the edge of the steak, but that would obviously not work.

I held back my laughter as I called out to her. "Jaina!"

"Yreash?" She answered with as much of the steak in her mouth as it would allow.

When I was sure that she was looking, I took the steak into my mouth and tore off a more reasonably sized piece of the meat and wordlessly instructed her to mimic what I was doing.

She looked unsure and bewildered by doing that, but nonetheless trusted me enough to try it out. And despite that, she still managed to rip a massive piece from the steak, certainly larger than any human could swallow… and she swallowed it whole.

She kicked her feet underneath the table as a rush of flavors flooded her senses. You visibly see the meat chunks grinding down her throat in their entirety and with every piece that reached her stomach, Jaina's face became more and more dreamy. I could even see her belly bulge out underneath her poncho. Some things just don't change even after you transform apparently.

Seeing her eat it so enthusiastically made me all the more excited to continue eating my own. Of course, I already knew that it tasted amazing, but somehow sharing this enjoyment with her, made it taste all the more incredible.

In between bites, I could see Jaina's eyes flick over to the third steak and uncomfortableness growing within them.

"It's for… her… isn't it?"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah, it is. She hasn't eaten anything since we've captured her and even though she's not showing it, she must be really hungry."

"And you're gonna let her free after that?"

I pulled the small key out of my pocket, it on the table and nodded. "We have to. We can't keep her locked up in there. She at least deserves a chance to prove herself useful. Who knows, maybe now that you can talk, you can finally set aside your problems."

Jaina sunk her head and even stopped eating. "I guess so…" Finally, she lifted her head and put on a smile, and as weak as it may have been, it had determination behind it. "Well, I can try to get along, I'll knock myself out!"

I cocked my head at the weird choice of words. "What?"

She shrugged. "You know, I'll give my best."

I broke down into a chuckle as I got up from my chair. "That's not how you use tha…" I stopped myself "Nevermind. I'm glad you will." I gave her a soft smile and softly caressed her cheek, making her smile back proudly.

After grabbing the steak plate, I turned to leave, faced the large holding cell door and pushed open the massive gate.

Entering the shadowy room, I was met with a familiar sight. Anja laid on the bunk in the far back her legs crossed and her arms behind her head. I could hear scratching sounds coming from her direction and once I came closer, I saw what it was. Anja was dragging her tiny claws over the wall, leaving marks all over it. She had a woodchip sticking out of her mouth which she chewed on as she lazily looked at her scratching hand.

I knew that she already noticed me entering the room, after all nobody could miss the loud sounds the doors made, but she seemed pretty unfazed by that. I approached her, this time daring to come right up to her bed.

When I reached her, the scratching stopped, but instead of looking at me, Anja checked on her claws. "This should do." She spoke to herself before finally acknowledging me. She pretended to be surprised by it. "Oh! You've come to visit me. How nice of you." She put on a smug smile and continued to half-heartedly scratch the wall.

"What are you doing that for? It's not like you're going to break through the hull of the ship."

"Perhaps not, but believe it or not, it's to take care of my claws. They need to be dulled from time to time or they just become… itchy. It's a real bother sometimes." She sighed in annoyance before giving me a cocky smile. Her chains clattered as she turned her head. "Anyways, did you bring the steak I ordered? I'm positively starving."

I sat down on the ground in front of her bed and placed the plate on the ground. "Right here. Eat up. The chef put a lot of effort into it." I said, shoving the plate towards her.

Her face looked entirely bewildered. She was visibly surprised and confused as she reluctantly knelt down on the ground. "This… this isn't poisoned, right? That's… not how you're going to kill me?"

"Kill you? What?" I rebutted. "You asked for a juicy steak, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but that was… I didn't think you'd ACTUALLY bring me one. It's just… not what I expected."

"Well, what DID you expect?"

Anja shrugged as she cautiously picked up the steak but hesitated to actually take bites out of it. "I don't know. But I expected SOMETHING… maybe that you'd let me starve, maybe that you'd eat me at some point or that you'd torture me at the very least."

I opened my pouch as she talked and sighed. "Some people might've preferred that too. But they're not the ones making the call on that. You're under my protection. As long as I am, that's not gonna happen." I poured out the tools that Sullivan gave me alongside the rest of the scales and fur that was left over and arranged it on the floor to start working on it.

Anja watched me with shifty, curious eyes while she ripped slices of meat from the steak. "I don't undershtand you."

"Welcome to the club. Neither do I."

"Why are you doing all this?"

"Many reasons… none of them really make sense. Maybe I'm trying to see good where there is none. But I've taken it on myself to make this work and make a new branch for the guild here. Just for demi humans like you and me. And if I want to lead this group…" I snapped a string with my teeth as I started stitching. "… I need to keep everyone happy. You might not like this. I don't know how you're feeling about what I've turned you into after all, but I hope I can make it worthwhile for you too."

Anja seemed bewildered by my sentiment, but somewhere behind the confused expression I could see a hint of appreciation and maybe even admiration. Anja though, shook those thoughts out of her mind and put her guard up again. "I don't understand you at all."

"Like I said…" I finished up my sowing and put the finishing touches on it as I added the adhesive to make everything hold tight and add some details to make it more representative of herself. "…welcome to the club."

"What ARE you doing down there anyways?" Her eyes focused on the stuff on the ground which to her must've seemed like just a pile of fabric, but then she looked closer. "Is… isn't this my skin? What are you doing with that?"

"Well, I was the one who took it from you and I already got myself some armor made out of the tougher parts, so I thought it would only be fair if you got the other half of it. Judging by how much Jaina likes to wear her poncho, I assume you might like it too to wear your old skin again. Actually, I could use your help with this, but I need to do something else first."

Anja cocked her head as I stood up and signaled her to do the same.

"Show me your hands."

"Why?" She asked cautiously.

"Just do it, you'll see."

Anja showed me her clawed arms and the shackles rustled as she stretched them out in front of herself.

I carefully took one of her hands in my own and gently turned it around. Anja was visibly a little bit flustered as I, the way she must've seen it, caressed her clawed hand. I stuck my hand into my pocket and pulled out the small key I found in the notebook earlier and just like I expected it to, it fit into the lock perfectly.

"W…what are you doing now? Why are you releasing my chains?" She asked with a quivering voice.

"I'm letting you go free. You won't be of much use hanging out in here, scratching the walls, will you?" I joked with a genuine smile as one after another, her shackles fell to the floor with a loud clank. Now the only thing left was the one around her neck.

"You know that you might regret this, right? That I could use any opportunity to betray you."

"I trust that you won't. You said you were bound by honor to listen to me, didn't you?" I said with a nonchalant, overly confident tone.

"What if I lied about that?"

"I don't think that you did."

"What makes you so sure about that? You are so careless, master!" She rebelled, making it seem like I was stupid to put my trust in her like that, but I didn't let it deter me.

"You know why I think that you were serious about your honor?"

She crossed her arms "I would be really curious to hear your reasons."

"Because if you wanted to seriously kill me…" I started my sentence as I unlocked the last chain around her neck. It plonked to the ground and Anja was completely free. "…your hands would already be around my neck by now."

Anja clenched her fists and hissed dejectedly. She knew I was right and she was sulky about it. With a pouting, almost adorable face, she turned towards the ground and grit her teeth. "It's almost annoying how much you're manipulating me."

"I'm not manipulating anyone. It's your own pride keeping you from doing it. It's one of the things that you apparently have in common with some humans. You should hold onto that. It's one of the things that define you."

"Tsk, with all due respect master, what do YOU know about monsters?"

I approached her, undeterred by her defensive stance. Anja, with no way to fight back, backed away from me until her back was against her bunk. "Not much, but I don't get humans sometimes either. Neither of those facts keep me from being able to read certain things. For example, I know that pride isn't the only reason you're not acting up, isn't it?"

"I h… have no idea what you mean, master!" She blurted out with a voice that wasn't the least bit convincing.

"You're curious. You're curious about humans. How they manage to keep up with monsters like you. And you want to prove that you can hunt just as well if not even better than them. Tell me, how right am I on this?"

She quivered, being backed into a corner and put on the spot. But she would not admit anything, instead she punched the bunk, making it almost break out of the hinges to look intimidating. "I… you know nothing, master. I don't take an interest in worms like… Mphh…" She stopped herself and looked away.

"Oh? Were you just about to say: 'worms like me'? That's not right, now is it? You and me…" I leaned up to her ear and whispered into it "…we're the same." I leaned back, enjoying her flustered reaction and reddening cheeks for a bit before I turned serious. "I'm messing with you. But still, I want you to remember this: If we're going to be a team, no one is superior to anyone."

"But how are you the leader then if you're not superior? I don't get this."

"I'll help you understand once you need it. For now, turn around."

"Why?"

"These clothes I made for you still need to be adjusted to your figure so you need to turn around and… take your robes off." I hesitantly gave her the command.

Anja seemed confused at my face growing a little more red than usual, but she complied. With her back turned to me, she undid her robes, letting them fall to the floor and presenting her slender, yet curvy back to me.

It was the first time that her tail came into my focus. It was way thicker than Jaina's and much more tense with muscly fiber. In general her upper body seemed to be much more feeble than her lower body, with her legs being immensely strong while her arms are comparatively weak.

Somehow though, this figure really worked for her. Her shoulders were very feminine and even from behind I could catch the outer edges of her breasts.

I tried not to stare too much as I knelt down to let her step into her new outfit. It had to be fitted from bottom to top, so I started with the lowest part: a skirt made from her old membrane. It was white with a light hinge of pink and due to how thin it was, it made for a perfect replacement to fabric. It was wavy and with a stretchy tendon, I was able to tighten it to her waist. I was right at the height of her butt where her tail emerged just above it. I had to cut a round gap into the top of the skirt to get it around her tail, but otherwise it fit perfectly.

"So…" Anja suddenly spoke up sheepishly. "…you made this for me?"

I nodded, even though she could probably not see it. "Mhm, with everything I had left from the forge. I may not be an armorer but I can at least stitch some clothes together."

"But why would you make clothes for me in the first place? I had the robes already, didn't I."

I chuckled "Maybe. But rags aren't really worthy of a warrior wanting to show everyone that they're to be taken serious, right?"

She blushed a little as I scooted up her body to continue dressing her.

"Listen, I want you to look presentable and honorable. You deserve at least that much respect. And with your old skin, you can show your true colors to everyone out there and remember them of the fierce monster that you are inside." I smiled at her as she curiously looked over her shoulder. My smile was met with a rash retreat of Anja turning around and trying her hardest to strictly stare at the wall.

"Why must you toy with me like this?"

"Huh? I don't remember toying with you."

"You're not doing it on purpose then?"

"Doing what on purpose?" I put on the next piece of clothing, a continuation of the membrane that I shaped into a shoulder-less shirt that was just as wavy as the skirt was, it was a bit looser than the skirt though, which I already had a solution for.

Anja quietly protested, insisting that there was something I was doing to her. "Y…you're teasing me one minute and then you say such nice things to me. You speak gibberish at one point and then you say something that I can perfectly understand. You're having fun at my expense, don't you? You think it's funny that I'm getting confused at all these foreign concepts."

I smirked a little, maybe I hadn't intended it the whole time, but I did find her befuddled reactions incredibly cute. Maybe I did tease her before, but now I somehow wanted to do it even more. "You know what some people tend to say? You only tease those who you've taken a liking to. You DID turn into a pretty girl after all, I'll give you that."

Anja jerked tensed up and threw me an angry glare. "Th…there you go again, saying things that throw me for a loop! Stop that… please." The last part was barely audible as she started to fidget about a little.

I carried on, fitting her clothes and there was only one other thing to do "Now, for the next part I need you to lift your arms."

"F…fine." Anja complied without asking this time, timidly raising her arms over her head.

I reached my arms around her, getting close to her looking over her shoulder. Despite her compliance, this took her by surprise. "Wh…what do you need to do now?"

I put on a professional face and pretended like I wasn't fazed. "Just need to get your clothes straightened out. I can't let it stay too loose or it's going to chafe your skin. Just need to mark out the contours here…" I spoke, hitting the back of her ear with my breath. She shivered a little as I tracked the front of her body. First, I tightened her shirt around her waist so it would stick to the shape of her curves. With my thumbs and index fingers, I drew an equator line around the thinnest part of her sides, crossing her belly button and her wide hips.

Anja seemed to be anxious, watching my fingers as they trailed her body.

"It won't take long. Just stay still for a few more seconds." I whispered calmly, knowing that the low vibration of my voice scrambled her mind once more.

I heard her hissing as she took a sharp inhale. I could tell why. I had to trace out the underside of her breasts so the corset I'm going to give her later, doesn't tighten them too much.

Even I could barely maintain a straight face, let alone a calm heartbeat as I rubbed the skin underneath her round, voluptuous breasts. I lifted them a little bit and even snuck in a few squeezes as the shirt more and more clung to her body. I couldn't quite tell, but I assumed that she was building up a slight sweat. Her breath sure seemed unsteady enough to support that.

Shaky exhales escaped her lips as I circled the outline of her bust. "Is th…this really all part of the fitting process?"

"It is… and it's really important that I'm thorough. I leave one fold unadjusted and it's going to bother you forever. Now…"

"Hyerrghh!" Anja yelped when I finally took a full grip of both of her moldable orbs. I grabbed them tightly, even scraping over her nipples with my fingers, but stealthily enough for her not to notice that I was doing it on purpose.

Anja squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip as I leaned in to whisper yet another order, through her wallowing black hair straight into her ear. "…I need you to hold on to your breasts just like I'm doing it. You can feel how I'm gripping you, right?"

She gulped and nodded reluctantly.

"Good, do it just like I am. Just put your hands right on top of mine and then replace them."

Anja slowly lowered her arms and just as I ordered her, intertwined her claws with my hands. She was way too delirious at this moment to rebel, and consecutively let a smile slip through as she touched my hands.

She almost seemed disappointed when I pulled them out from underneath hers but it was quickly replaced with a little chirp of surprise when her very own claws took a firm grip of her breasts. The feeling of my hands must've still lingered, and the second grab must've felt like it still came from me for her to have such a surprised reaction.

I grabbed something from the floor and instead of from behind, I turned around to her front.

Through her slightly slanted eyes, she could stare right into mine and for some reason that seemed to make her anxiousness even worse. But that would not be all there was to this confrontation.

I slowly walked up to her and almost like an embrace in a dance, I put my arms around her sides.

Our faces were barely apart and her hands were too busy for her to shove me away. I met her dazed expression with a smile of my own and my eyes grew a little hooded as I gave her the next order.

"And now for the last part. Take a deeeeep breath and hold it in until I tell you to let it out again."

I don't know what Anja expected, but her lips trembled a little before she decisively did as I told her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

And just in that moment, I wrapped a corset made from a patch of her old pink scales around her belly and tied up the front with the rest of the leftover tendons. I pulled the string tight, leaving little room between my body and hers as I did so.

With her black hair covering one of them, it was so unbearably cute and satisfying to see her other eyes twitching under her eyelids.

I leaned forward a little, facing her directly. She reeled back a little when she opened her eye and saw me right in front of her.

I smirked and whispered in a teasing tone. "You can breathe now."

"Baaaahhhh!" Anja took several cautious steps backwards as her chest heaved in exasperation. With her finished outfit, she looked almost like the captain of a pirate ship. Given the circumstances, that was actually very fitting. "I'm pretty proud of my work to be honest. It looks really good on you."

Anja blushed deeply as her breath was still uneven. "You're doing something to me! I don't know what, but you better explain yourself!" She barked out in an accusatory tone.

"That again?" I approached her once more, giving her no chance to retreat this time. "I was just fitting your clothes and you're looking damn fine inside of them. I don't know what YOU thought we were doing back there."

"I…um… I… you…" She fidgeted about, trying to think of something to accuse me of but her head must've been a quirled mess.

Before she could continue her rambling, I interrupted her. "Good. That settles that then."

"A…alright." She said, giving up and leaving it at that.

I took on a serious tone, making her understand that there were more important matters at hand. "I wasn't joking before. From today on you are free. I know that you will keep your honor, but before we head out of this room, I need to reemphasize this again. You will behave while we're in Astera. I don't want to hear anything about you hating or hurting Jaina and we will work together as equals. Do you understand that much?"

Anja seemed to still be struggling with that thought inside, but she had no grounds to refuse me anymore. "Alright, master."

"You know, you don't have to call me master, right?"

"I know… but it feels right to call you that to me. I've kind of grown attached to it." She admitted, facing the ground and holding back any further rebuttals.

"Hey…" I called out to her as I knocked my finger against the underside of her chin to make her look up at me. When I was sure that she did, I extended that same hand to her. "…let's make this work, alright?"

She lifted her hand, but seemed unsure whether or not to actually entrust it to me. She repeatedly reached out to me before pulling back and looking at me with mistrusting, uncertain eyes.

"I'm not going to do anything, Anja. There's no trick behind this."

"So you DID trick me before…" She sulked a little but, with a little scowl and an annoyed glare from her one uncovered, wine red eye, she finally laid her dainty little claw into my hand and accepted the handshake.

In the end though, I couldn't hold back from giving her one final tease. "You know clothes need to be readjusted from time to time, so… if anything stings in places where it shouldn't be…"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Anja's face grew red and she ripped her hand out of mine. "N...NO!" And with those words she stormed past me and basically punched the doors open, leaving me behind in the darkness.

I chuckled to myself. "Well, this could turn out to be either horribly bad, or incredibly fun."


	16. Gearing up Part 3

When I stepped outside, I didn't know what I expected. Maybe I was being too optimistic that things might get worked out because the first thing I saw when I left the bow of the ship… were Anja and Jaina standing apart from each other and wordlessly glaring at each other.

Anja stood by the door that I just came out of and Jaina stood by the set of tables that we've been eating on before. It might've been only a few feet between them but there might as well have been a canyon dividing them judging by their resistance to get any closer.

Apparently, Anja had been waiting on me, and judging by her expression she was not very pleased.

"What's with you two? Have you… talked already?"

Anja turned her head towards me, intentionally talking loudly so Jaina could hear. "Well I was willing to talk, but it is tradition amongst monsters that as a sign of respect, the monster that seeks to be forgiven has to step forward first and present a peace offering. I can overlook that offering, but she is being quite rude and doesn't seem to be willing to apologize!"

"I'M supposed to be apologetic?!" Jaina yelled from across the deck. Oh boy. "Over the last few years, you've almost KILLED me 3 times!"

"That's what you get for encroaching on someone else's turf. If you're not prepared for a fight then don't provoke one!"

"What was I supposed to do? You just spat your disgusting snot everywhere and claimed the places with the most food as 'your turf'!"

"It's called marking territory, you fat freeloader! You didn't earn the food, so you don't get any! It's that simple!"

"Other monsters were starving! If I didn't steal from you and shared it with the other smaller monsters who couldn't fight for themselves, they would've died! You stupid, ignorant, selfish bi…"

" **GIRLS!"** I screamed my lungs out to make sure both of them could even hear me over their yelling. I got in between them and interchangeably glared at each of them. "Jaina, come here. Same goes for you, Anja."

"But we were…" "But we were…" They rebutted in unison only to be quickly interrupted.

"Come… here… now!" I pointed at the floor left and right to me as I said each word with a strict, serious tone.

Like children preparing to be scolded, they reluctantly approached me, occasionally throwing blaming glances at each other.

Once the two of them were at my sides and faced each other, I could feel the unrelenting hostility between them even stronger.

"Now each of you, I don't care who starts. Apologize to each other."

"BUT…" "BUT…" They once again said in tandem. They could almost be like two sulking sisters.

"You've both done something wrong and until you both get this sorted out, we can't leave the past in the past. You've both promised to me that you would give it your all to make this work. Now make good on that promise."

I looked to my left. "Anja?"

No response. She basically gave Jaina the cold shoulder and ignored my call to action.

I looked to my right. "Jaina?" I kind of expected the resistance by Anja and turned to Jaina with a little more hope.

Jaina reacted in a way that I didn't expect though. Usually she was so cheerful and open but right there, I saw her struggling to compose herself and not lunge at Anja. Her claws were almost digging into her palm and she took deep breaths. She looked up at me, looking for help, but this was nothing I could help her with.

Her eyes sunk to the ground and she visibly had some sort of turmoil in her mind. Finally though, she lifted her head and, to my surprise, figuratively and literally swallowed her pride.

"Maybe I did okay?!"

Anja looked over her shoulder with at least the slightest bit of interest.

"Maybe I did something wrong. I had no right to take the food that you've earned yourself. I disrespected your space and your claim and I took something from you that I didn't earn. I'm sorry, okay! I was hungry and wasn't thinking straight. So were many other monsters in the forest. But just because we were hungry, doesn't make it right that we were stealing from you. I can't undo it, but I would if I could." She basically prostrated herself in front of her, only garnering a minimal reaction. Jain had genuine shame and guilt in her expression and I could see tears of strain in her eyes. "Please… believe me, I'm sorry. I don't want us to hate each other anymore."

When Jaina was pretty much crying, Anja finally turned around and looked her straight in the eyes. Jaina almost shrunk under her gaze but still managed to stand strong. She really had pushed herself to wring out this apology.

Looking down on her, Anja took a stance and nodded with a satisfied grin. "Good. I forgive you, Jaina."

Jaina looked a bit perplexed by the silence that followed after that brief acknowledgement. "A…and?"

"What do you mean? What are you expecting to hear?" Anja responded with no sign of remorse or intent to admit to doing anything wrong.

"Good?! That's all you have to say!?" Jaina almost screamed through her tears, making even Anja reel back in shock.

She returned to an unmoving stance and sternly spoke back. "Now listen here. This is where I stand: I've claimed a territory for myself, hunted for food on my own and fought off the PESKY intruders who tried to steal from me. Now I'm INTERESTED to hear you tell me, where I did anything wrong." Anja spoke through her teeth, grinding them in frustration and anger.

Jaina started choking, swallowing the tears that were inevitable to come. She shut her eyes and threw herself against me. She sobbed and her tears dripped down over the breast plate of my armor.

While Jaina couldn't utter another word in her defense, Anja looked on with an expression of contempt and… jealousy? She was visibly grinding her teeth and it took her immense effort to maintain her composure as she spoke up again. "And you… you're catering to her weakness and unruliness. If you keep pampering her and giving in to her childish behavior, she's not going to make it once we head back out there. She couldn't handle it before and if you don't train her right she won't be able to handle it now. She's…"

"Enough, Anja." I said in a calm yet resolute tone. She jerked back a bit at my response and reluctantly stopped another tirade of hers. "Maybe we need to solve this over time. Jaina, you okay?" I asked her as she wiped the last of her tears from underneath her eyes.

She hung her head a little, clinging to my chest as she answered with a stern, resolute tone. "I'm fine." Her gaze turned towards Anja in an angry yet somehow regretful glare. Anja looked back with almost just as much dislike, but somehow there was something beneath her anger. Maybe doubt or sadness but from her stoic expressions I couldn't tell.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, unknowing what to do about this situation. "Anyways, you two know what we are planning to do soon. We're collecting data on the various monsters that live out in the Ancient Forest and beyond. For missions like those, since we don't know what to expect out there, it's usually the case that a whole squad of people heads out, meaning 4 people. An A-list hunter is going to join us soon and you two will complete the squad along with me. I need to know now, because as a team we need to at least trust each other on the most basic level. Will you be able to get through this without jumping at each other's throat?"

Anja and Jaina threw each other some mean glares but after a few seconds passed, they reluctantly nodded.

"You already know that I'm ready to do anything you say, Kalaydus!" Jaina exclaimed cheerily with a cute little salute which garnered an annoyed sigh from Anja who stepped forward as well.

"I have sworn an oath to you that my respect belongs to you. As long as you are my master, I will follow." Anja proclaimed proudly as she took a slight bow in front of me.

It seemed like the two girls were at least on board for now. Maybe over time things would cool down between them and they could at least get along.

A slight smile crossed my face although it was not entirely without doubt. Luckily, I wouldn't have to linger on this for too long, as I picked up a loud shriek heading towards the Gathering Hub.

Me, Jaina and Anja walked to the ledge of the deck, looking over the edge as a Mernos coming from Astera flew toward us.

It flapped its wings wildly to gain some altitude and I saw a bound scroll dangling around its neck. It was delivering us a message.

I knew that Mernos were trained to return to their place of origin as soon as possible, so I held up my hand, waiting for it to come closer.

It zoomed over my head as I gripped the paper, snapping the thin thread that tied it to the Mernos' harness. As soon as the wingdrake knew I had received its delivery, it headed right back down to the main camp.

The two girls looked at me expectantly as I unrolled the note.

"What does it say? Who sent this?" Jaina asked curiously as she peeked over my shoulder and even Anja seemed to have a peaked interest in it as she poked her head my way.

After reading it through, I let it roll back into its original form. "It's from the Commander. He says the 5th fleet will be arriving even sooner than we had expected. Supposedly, the ships had already been loaded and they set off as soon as they got the message from us. The note says that the hunters will probably want to use an arena for practice after their long journey. Apparently, we do have one, but it has barely been used by the hunters since most of them were out scouting the island and the recruits didn't have time for it yet. We're supposed to check it out and see if everything works as it should be or if anything needs to be replaced or repaired in preparation for the extensive use that it's gonna get soon."

"Well, we've got our orders. Think you can stay serious enough to do that?" Anja shot a glare towards Jaina, clearly trying to probe for a reaction.

"How about you? Think you can actually do some work instead of just badmouthing others for once?"

My god, they really were like feuding sisters. "Hey, hey! It's our first job as a team. It's a minor one, but please pull yourself together. The note said that the wingdrakes that are perched on the front of the ship should get us to this arena in no time. So, each of you, hold onto them and let's get going!"

Anja and Jaina sighed, letting go of their bickering for now. I knew it wouldn't last but at least for a few minutes they'd be far enough apart from each other to not cause a fight.

During the flight down into a valley that laid somewhere between the Ancient Forest and a desert region that I had no knowledge of, I took cautious glances at the other two flying passengers hanging from their drakes. Even though the drakes were in no rush to get to the arena, the two of them apparently constantly checked on each other to see who would be there faster.

It was crazy for me to think how they are so similar and competitive yet so hateful and opposed to each other. There had to be some way to get them to get along but I felt like there was something that held them back from that. At least one of them.

The drakes flew us towards a wooden platform at the edge of a wide open, spacious field of sand. This must've been it: The arena.

Palisades surrounded the field, keeping monsters as well as humans from escaping the battling grounds. And I wasn't the only one astonished by the sheer size of it.

"Woah, this is it? It's massive! So much space!"

"Well, some monsters are pretty big after all." I explained as I leaned over the ledge that led down into the pit. Nothing seemed to be out of place from up there, so I instead turned around and inspected a small hut that was on the back of the platform.

"So… you're fighting monsters here? Not against each other?" Anja asked with vested interest.

"Yes, the guild on occasion puts out missions to catch monsters alive and pits them against one to up to 4 hunters against them. It's all matched up though. We have something like High rank and Low rank to judge the danger of a monster depending on the skill of the hunter or hunters. There used to be another level called G-rank back where I came from but apparently, we haven't discovered monsters of that danger level here. At least as of now. It's actually kind of exciting to think about it."

"I see…" Anja seemed genuinely amazed by what I was saying. Her gaze wandered over the large field, her arms crossed and looking at every detail with a critical eye.

I curiously turned around to her. "You're interested in it?"

She nodded in deep thought. "I suppose I'm just still surprised you manage to even put a dent in a monster like me. Even with 4 people at once, you're so small and so vulnerable. One strong hit and you could be crushed."

I walked up to her and chuckled. "Heh, the trick is not to get hit. But not only that. Exactly because of that vulnerability, we have to use all the tools that are available to us. Aerial advantage, blind spots, bombs, our weapons but the most important factor in fighting a monster… is skill and caution. You need to know when to strike and when to back away because if one of your attacks back then had hit me… well… it'd have been over for me. Even armor like the one I made out of your scales only gives me a slightly bigger window for errors."

Anja nodded along with my speech, deeply taking in what I'm saying. A little bit of guilt seemed to form on her face. "Aren't you angry?"

"About what?"

"Me almost killing you back then? Jaina sure doesn't seem to be able to forgive me."

"It's just what monsters and hunters have always done. Trying to kill each other. It's just the way things are…" I took a small glance over at Jaina who was dangling her feet over the edge of the sandpit, humming to herself. Anja followed my gaze and frowned a little bit as I started smiling. But I interrupted her sour expression as I continued speaking. "…but you know… now that we have this new option. To turn a monster into what you, me and Jaina are… it opens a lot more doors than we might be able to imagine. We don't have to kill each other or steal food anymore. Maybe we can learn, live together… become friends." I halted a bit before I ended my sentence with an almost solemn tone as Anja's eyes met mine. Her eyes turned from looking at me, towards Jaina and slowly back to me. Her mouth was hanging slightly agape as I quietly gave her a small, inviting smile.

I could see the pink rising in her cheeks as she forcefully pulled her gaze away from me. It might have been because she thought that I was going to… mess with her again or that she was still reluctant to let any of this sink in but nevertheless she seemed hesitant to let me get close to her.

We stood there for a few seconds without uttering a word, looking at each other mostly with sideways glances as either of us seemed to have a lot on our minds.

I rubbed my neck and announced loudly enough for Jaina to hear it as well. "Umm… since we're already on the topic of fighting, there's actually something I wanted to show you both. I found something in the little hut back here that I needed to introduce you to anyways." I waved them closer as I disappeared in the darker backside of the hut. The walls were lined with racks filled with all types of weaponry. They were the standard steel variety of every type, from gunlance to insect glaive.

The girls' eyes were glistening over the impressive display and closely examined the fine craftsmanship.

I looked over them and announced "I can hardly expect you to fight bare-handed now, can I? These weapons are free for the taking. Pick out whichever one appeals to you the most."

"Why are we allowed to take these without paying for them?" Jaina inquired.

I chuckled a little. "Well, everyone gets their first weapon without charge because they count on you wanting to upgrade them more and more to make them better and better. These are the standard versions, but over time people figure out that they're still not doing enough damage, so they pay the smithy to make them stronger and stronger."

Jaina's eyes sparkled and she was like a child in a toy store looking over all these options she had. Anja examined the weapons too but with a way more skeptical eye than Jaina was. Then again, I think Jaina didn't much care for effectiveness or fighting styles. She seemingly went by which one would look the most amazing.

Anja was suddenly in an uproar as she apparently found what she was looking for. "This one!"

I was a bit flabbergasted as I saw her stomping towards me with a massive freaking hammer in her hand. It was basically a steel boulder attached to a long handle. "Woah…"

"What?"

I chuckled a bit. "Well, I kind of didn't expect you to choose something to heavy. I mean I don't think I can even lift that, let alone swing it."

"Ohhh… so what is this? How do you use it?"

I approached her and pointed out the parts of her chosen weapon. "This is called a Hammer. It should be obvious, but the reason why this thing is so heavy, is the end of it. It's your center of gravity and if you build up enough speed, you're gonna get a hell of a hit in on your target." I laid my hands over her claws on the handle as I adjusted them to be further apart.

But this little touch actually made her blush and smile instead of getting her to pay attention. It actually made me smiled myself and with the hammer between us, there wasn't much distance between our faces either.

I cleared my throat as I sheepishly backed away from her. "I'm… still surprised you would choose this one. It's the second heaviest weapon type in the hunter's arsenal."

"Is that… a bad thing?" She asked cautiously with a cute little pout.

I laughed at her and affectionately ruffled her hair a little, eliciting a great beaming smile from her. "You can choose whatever weapon you want, Jaina. If you like this one, you can keep it." My hand glided over her slightly coarse hair as she released little, cheerful squeaks.

"AHEM!" My hand jerked away from Jaina as I heard a loud rattling behind me. Turning around, I saw Anja by the racks, her fist slammed into the top of one of them and a grimace of annoyance on her face.

The moment I looked at her though and got away from Jaina, she straightened herself up and asked earnestly. "So, if this is the second heaviest type… what's the heaviest weapon you humans use?" I could see her throwing a competitive, challenging glare towards Jaina which she returned by dejectedly holding her hammer close to her body and sulking.

I sighed in slight annoyance that they just couldn't let go of their rivalry but I decided to still instruct Anja without saying anything. "There is only one weapon heavier than the hammer. It would be this one." I reached for the weapon I was motioning towards: a steel greatsword and pulled it from the rack. I couldn't fully lift it up and had to drag it across the floor to hand it to Anja. "Nghhaaa…" I groaned as I set it down only for Anja to pick it up with both of her claws. Although it seemed to require some effort, she managed to lift it and hold it in front of her without much of a problem. Her slender arms certainly betrayed the strength that was behind them.

"This one's a greatsword. Not only does it weigh the most, but it also packs even more of a punch than any other weapon in the arsenal. You have to be very deliberate and well-timed in your attacks if you want to use this weapon, but if you learn how to do it, you can slice anything with that thing."

Anja grinned proudly as she dragged her claw along the massive blade. It was like a flattened bar of steel with one sharpened and one dull edge. Effectively a buster sword.

I clapped my hands, ready to get stuff done. "Well, that's weapons taken care of. We still need to check the inside of the arena and…"

"Hey…" To my surprise, it was Anja who interrupted me.

"Uhh… yeah, Anja?"

She stood there with her sword still in hand, fidgeting a little and avoiding eye contact. "Is… am I gripping this weapon the right way?"

"Are you holding…" I checked on her and upon coming closer, I could see no reason to correct anything. Her grip was firm and at the right distance between her hands. "…yes, as far as I can see you've figured it out already. Nice and tight."

"So… you don't have anything to adjust?" She looked like she was expecting something, facing me and reluctantly looking me in the eyes before blushing, shutting her eyes and shaking her head. "G…good." She said with dejected, suppressed disappointment.

"Are you…"

"I'm fine!" She spoke through her teeth as she put her sword on her back and brushed past me. Her face was red as a tomato which I could see despite all of her attempts to hide it. "You said we still had to go inside, right? Let's get going then." Without turning back, she jumped off the ledge into the sandpit and left me and Jaina behind.

I didn't know how I should feel about her reaction but I brushed it off for now. There was work to be done. "Jaina, are you coming?" I signaled her to follow me but she waved me off.

"Hehe, I don't think I'd be much use down there. I don't really have a good eye for details like cracks or anything. I'll stay up here and enjoy the view a little. Is that… okay?" She asked with a sheepish, adorable smile looking for permission.

I gave a short chuckle "Alright, keep an eye on the Mernos then. We're gonna need them to pull us out of the pit later. Shouldn't take longer than a few minutes."

Jaina gave a devoted smile and returned to sitting on the ledge and dangling her feet as I entered the pit.

As my feet hit the sand, I noticed for the first time how high these palisades actually are. They loomed over me like towers, preventing anything from leaving the fight zone.

Anja stood in the middle of the large field, her back turned towards me. She didn't seem to inspect anything or having her focus set on anything either. She was just standing there.

I approached her from behind and tried to call out to her. "Hey, everything alright with you? You're looking a bit… lost." My words slowed down as I came closer. Her fists were clenched and she seemed to struggle with something. She was shaking and I could see tears glistening on the side of her face.

I carefully walked up to her, talking as softly as I could. "If… if something was the matter, you could've told me, you know."

"Told you?... You wouldn't even begin to understand, master."

"I could if you'd just let me. You're not alone anymore. I can help you."

"I've noticed that I'm not alone anymore. I've also noticed that I'm not on top anymore. I have no control over things. Everything is strange to me. This camp, this team… these feelings. I don't know anything anymore. And then there's you making me feel these strange things." She started sobbing, clutching her fist to her heart. The stream of tears was getting stronger and stronger.

I solemnly walked up to her, making her twitch as I laid my warm hand on her shoulder. The sobbing stopped as she looked over her shoulder. Words didn't mean anything at this point. I just stood by her side and carefully moved my hand from her shoulder to her cheek to rub her tears with my flat thumb.

I shot her a gentle smile to which she reacted with a quivering lip and flushed cheeks. "I won't leave you in the confusion, Anja. I'll be there for you every step of the way."

Her breath quickened and her expression softened a little. Our eyes met as I combed the hair from her covered one and they were still as pretty as ever.

Anja laid her hand upon mine and gently cupped it with her claw. "It feels so warm." She whispered to herself.

Her eyes wandered over my shoulder, looking at Jaina. The second she laid eyes on her, her breathing quickened even more, to threatening levels.

"But it's not real. You're just toying with me!" My hand, which she held so gently before, was suddenly ripped from her face and she used it to throw me away from her with unexpected force. I managed to land on my feet a short length away from her and grinded to a halt.

I was face to face with Anja as she pulled the greatsword from her back and her tears started to well up once more.

In the distance, I could hear Jaina call out in shock from the platform. "Kalaydus!"

"You don't really care for me. No one ever does." Anja said weakly as she readied her sword.

"Even you don't… master."

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **Woof, this was intense.**

 **This concludes the 3-chapter arc and man what a finale, huh? I'll do some arcs in the future like that if any situation lends itself well to it. Like a multi chapter hunt for example. Though I don't know yet if I'm gonna stretch the hunts out that long. After all, you want to get new monsters coming in as quickly as possible, right?**

 **Anyways, the next one is going to be very heavy set on fighting, so be ready for that and don't worry, it'll get more light hearted later on as well.**

 **For now, thank you for reading and PLEASE leave a review of what you thought about this arc, it would mean the world to me to get your input. Any suggestions or opinions are welcome and help me determine what you want to see in the future. Also follow and favorite if you haven't already and have a good day.**


	17. Finally (Outdated Update)

Hey guys, Alleskeins here.

Sooooo...

Apparently after hearing nothing back for 2 weeks, I'm apparently NOT going to get my PC back. While trying to salvage my graphics card, apparently my PC got damaged beyond repair. My whole CPU got wiped and other parts were broken as well.

That's the bad news.

The good news is: I've got refunded in full, meaning I could afford a new PC which I am setting up right now as I'm writing this. Should be done soon and after the setup is finished, I'll finally get back to writing properly without having to rely on my phone and deal with the hassle of well... writing with cellphone keys.

I think I'll get the second part of my MGEEC story done and right after that, I'll start on finishing the new chapter for Monster Hunter.

Thanks to all of you for your patience and the kind words of support you sent my way again. See you guys much sooner now.


	18. Wants and Needs

I rolled across the floor as Anja's sword slammed into the spot I was just at. Hastily, i got back onto my feet and into a defensive position, ready to dodge her. "For god's sake, Anja! Calm down! There is literally NO reason for us to fight!"

"You don't have any idea about my reasons, master! I will be on top again! I will have control again! Hyaaaahh!" Dragging her greatsword across the floor, she swung it upwards at an angle, throwing up dirt and gravel in the process.

I couldn't allow any of her attacks to hit me. My armor might've been strong, but a full blow from a buster sword might've even crushed it. I had to rely on my speed and agility to get out of the way.

As her swing came crashing towards me, I rolled out of dodge and pulled out my two bone blades. I looked at my father's amulet dangling from one of them. I had no idea what effect it would have on an already transformed monster, but I had no choice but to use them now. "I'm not going to hurt you and I'm not going to fight you, Anja! Get your senses together! There's a million other ways to resolve this!"

"This IS the way to resolve this! It has to be! It's always been the way things worked!" Her sharp eyes focused on me and her blade once again dragged across the dirt towards me.

I shielded myself with my blades in a cross formation in front of my body. I gritted my teeth and braced myself as I saw the mass of steel coming towards me. The incoming blow of the side of her sword didn't get to my body, but it still had enough pressure to it that my feet ground backwards over the floor.

The moment I gained my footing, I knew I had to strike before she could recover from her heavy swing. I pushed my feet into the ground and dashed forward bashing into her with my shoulder so I would at least get some distance between us.

I had to throw my whole body weight against her to even get her to move but with the way her claws could dig into the earth, that wasn't much either. At the very least, it got her to let go of her greatsword which was firmly lodged into the ground. Even with nothing but her claws to fight, she was viciously dangerous. She flashed her fangs and began to unleash a flurry of cuts that I could only barely parry with my blades.

"Grrghghhh! HyaaaaAAAHHH!" She let out a thundering roar that almost mimicked that of her former self. She became an enraged beast with primal urges that I could see flash up in her eyes. "You've taken it from me! You've taken EVERYTHING!"

I blocked more and more strikes that equally gained more and more force. "I know! That's why I wanted to talk to you! STOP THIS!"

"I'm done listening to you! Everyone should listen to ME! I've earned the right!"

"What are you talking about!? Please! Stop and let's talk!"

"HrreaaAAAHHH!" With a crossed strike of her claws, she broke through my defense and knocked me down to the floor yet again. There was no stopping her and before I could even get up again, I had one of her claws wrapped around my throat.

"Hrgghnngghh..." I choked, barely getting any air as my body was lifted up and held in the air. I let go of my blades and pulled on her arm to get her to let go of me, but it was of no use. "I can help you. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We're not... enemies." I spoke with a piping, suppressed voice as I felt my esophagus slowly getting crushed.

Her face wavered and her eyes twitched as she noticed that my life was now in her hands. Her lips trembled and even through my slowly fading vision, I noticed the pain in them. "If you were not my enemy, you would be my ally. I have no allies, master. Everyone is against me. There's only me."

"And me, you stupid bitch!"

"What?"

Without any warning, a massive boulder-like object crashed into Anja. Within milliseconds, the hand that was choking me was no longer there, and neither was Anja. Time shut down for a second as my brain tried to assess the situation. I turned my head to see Jaina finishing up a throwing motion from which she still had to recover while on my other side, Anja was flung several feet, stuck at the top of Jaina's hammer.

Time unfroze, though I still couldn't believe what I was witnessing. The second my feet touched the ground, I felt the earth shattering impact of Anja crashing into the side of a sandy slope at the far end of the arena.

I was still in disbelief and not at all ready to catch my fall as I landed on my butt instead with my legs giving in. I landed right between my blades and with my eyes still fixated on Anja's crashing site, felt along the ground to grab them again.

I was suddenly taken out of my bewilderment as I felt someone shake my body.

My ears were still ringing and my vision blurry as I slowly regained my senses and the sound kicked back in. "...laydus! Kalaydus! Are you alright? Are you hurt? DID SHE HURT YOU?" Her voice broke up several times as tears streamed down her cheeks.

While the cloud of roughed up sand balled up behind us, I was focused entirely on my own breathing and my thoughts. I shook my head and faced Jaina who was sobbing and holding my shoulders like she was afraid to let go of me. I reached out to her and laid my hand on her shoulder as well.

I couldn't smile, but I still nodded reassuringly while being out of breath. "Y...yeah, I'm... I'm fine, Jaina. She didn't hurt me just... need to get my breath back."

She broke down into tears and clutched my armor as she hugged me tightly. I gently rubbed her back to calm her down and turned my eyes towards the crash site cautiously. I could feel that this one hit was not enough to take Anja out.

"Jaina, you need to get out of here."

She looked up through her tear stained eyes and was taken aback in confusion. "What? No! I can't leave you alone down here, it's my fault she's this angry."

I grabbed her shoulders and made clear to her that I was serious. "Jaina, I don't think it matters at this point who of us she's more mad at; she won't care. I will not let her hurt you, me or even herself."

Jaina grabbed my head and put her forehead against mine as she cried in fear. Her lip was quivering. "Can... Can you really promise that? I don't care if she hurts me. I deserve it."

I sighed as I gently combed her dusty, tough hair. "Nobody is going to GET hurt. You trust me, right?"

She sobbed. "Yes..."

"Then... stand... back."

Angry grunts could be heard so loudly that they echoed through the entire arena. The whistling breaths of Anja's nostrils ringing out from within the center of the enormous crater she had created in the slope.

As the dust settled, me and Jaina, slowly parting from each other, focused our attention on the ebbing cloud of sand and dirt.

In her hands, she held the hammer that Jaina threw at her and she tossed it towards us without any sign of difficulty. She was pissed. The hammer landed right next to Jaina's feet as it ground to a halt.

Through the remaining dust, we saw something that we neither expected nor hoped to ever see again. A red glow.

Jaina and I backed up in panic as Jaina picked up her hammer with trembling hands.

The silhouette of a furious, imposing Anja emerged, smoke blowing out of her nostrils and formerly hidden, leathery sails rising out of her back. I never would've even suspected the she still had those but what was even more intimidating... was that her throat was glowing a fiery read and small embers escaped her mouth when she breathed. Either through regeneration or just pure fury, her flame sacs reignited and she was ready to spew fire at any point now.

"Now, Jaina. No matter what happens, stay back and don't do anything to get her attention!" I said to Jaina, quiet enough so Anja wouldn't hear it. My voice was trembling. Even I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

"But what about you?"

"I'll dodge her as long as I can and tire her out. And if things get ugly... there's one more option that I'll try."

"But she caught you last time too!" Jaina interjected as she reluctantly holstered her hammer.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before flipping my blades to hold them backwards. "She won't this time." I said and slowly headed towards Anja who was heading straight for me as well.

As we came closer to each other, her eyes grew sharp and focused on me like I was a hindrance in her path. "Out... of... my... way!"

I shook my head firmly and stood kept on walking. "Not gonna happen."

"I was going to let her off at first. I wanted to give her the chance to run away like she always does. Now she will regret! Stop trying to protect her from this!"

"Anja! For fuck's sake! It's fucking enough!"

"You don't talk to me this way! Nobody talks to me this way! Get! OUT! OF! THE! WAY!" Becoming more and more aggravated, she noticed that I was not moving. Her eyes flicked between me and Jaina behind me until she finally set her sights on me. "HRRAAAGHGHHH!"

With an uncontrolled swing, she curved her sword over her head and struck it down in a diagonal slash. I followed her swing, swiftly sliding past her legs as I passed her in stride. I hooked the dull side of my left blade around her leg and took her off balance before quickly turning around and shouldering her in the back.

Going with the momentum of her strike, she fell over and made a full flip. Rolling over her back through the dirt, she recovered unexpectedly fast and rolled onto her feet again, initiating the next attack.

I saw the fire burning in her eyes. It was legit hatred. Nothing but pure, focused fury. But even through that, I noticed something in the pattern she attacked me in. Whenever I dodged an attack, she always left in enough time between the last and the next attack until I regained my footing again.

It was like she intentionally wanted me to have a chance at all times. A chance to strike back. And I didn't know why... but she seemed distraught when those attacks back at her weren't coming.

After a while of this back and forth, me dodging effortlessly and her exerting all her effort into crushing me with her blade, we finally came to the point of exhaustion. The constant movement and her constant muscle strain was bound to make us both break out in sweat. I could tell that her muscles were aching as much as mine were and that our breaths were equally labored and winded.

Yet her anger didn't subside. Although, her demands sounded more like pleading to me now. "Go away. I need to finish this! I can't let this stand! I need to win this!"

"Why? Why do you need to? We're willing to let this go! We don't hate you, we want you with us. What about this do you not get?!"

Tears started streaming down her cheeks and the grip on her sword tightened. I could see how strained she was and how an inner conflict waged within her.

But just as I thought that we may have reached a breaking point, she put in one last desperate attempt. Her labored breath turned even more heavy and hot. Hot in the sense of fanning fire in the back of her throat. Her head began to glow and her mouth started dripping with flammable spit.

My eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen. I was about to shield myself with my blades but... she wasn't focusing on me. Anja turned her head to the left. To the spot where Jaina stood, trembling and fidgeting with pure fear in her eyes. She was frozen on the spot.

Anja launched her head back before unleashing a torrent of fire that hurdled towards Jaina.

Within a split second, my feet kicked up dirt as I ran in between them. In the last possible moment, I got in front of Jaina and protectively held my arms up to shield my face from the incoming flames. The initial heatwave slammed into me like a Kestodon and the following flames didn't let off with the pressure either.

Thanks to the incredible resistance to fire, the armor I wore almost negated any damage I took. A spray of fire spread out in all directions around me, turning the sand on the floor into liquid glass and scorched earth. It spread out far enough so that Jaina had an umbrella of safety within she could hide. I felt her pressing up against me from behind with her claws clinging to my the back of my armor.

We both gritted our teeth until finally the barrage came to an end and only stuttering, weak flames came our way. Not even enough to warrant shielding us anymore.

I relaxed my body and went out of my defensive position, steadying myself before I spoke to her. "Are you done? Did you finally get it all out?"

Jaina wheezed and held onto her trembling knees as she coughed up the last spurts of ember in her throat. She was all out. She gasped for air and sweat trickled down her forehead and chin, mixing in with painful tears. "No... why can't I do it? I just want..."

"Exactly." I cut her off, getting both hers and Jaina's attention. "You want. That's all this is. You want power, superiority and control. You think throwing a fit like this is going to give you that?"

"No, I... I..." She found no words, her eyes diluted and unfocused as she faced the ground. "I can't... this is not how this is supposed to work. This is not how this is supposed to work..."

"Yes, things used to work this way. The way changed. Me and Jaina are not here to destroy or torment you. Neither of us wants to see you suffering or dead, but obviously you don't believe that. I know that you're struggling with all these changes and so are we. I can only speak for myself, but I want us to make the best out of it and work together. But if you really don't want this... if you really need to do this your way... I'm not stopping you."

I took a step forward towards her and stopped. Anja looked at me with a surprised look and rose up to face me even though she was still unsteady.

"Go ahead, pick up that sword of yours and do what you tried to do this entire time..." I opened my hands and let my blades drop to the floor before looking Anja straight in the eyes and spoke with conviction. "...I'm not going to dodge it."

Jaina was about to run out to me. "Kalaydus, no! You can't..."

I raised a hand, signaling her that she should stand back, and shook my head softly. "No matter what, Jaina." I solemnly turned around and saw Anja clench her sword and freeze in reluctance.

"What are you doing? Pick up your weapons! You're...you're supposed to fight me!" She stuttered, the situation completely eluding her. She clutched her forehead, trembling and sobbing.

I responded calmly but sincerely. "It's not really a fight if one side doesn't want to see the other dead, is it?"

She gulped and looked back at me with her reddened eyes. Her black hair falling over one of them. She sunk her head as she reluctantly raised her sword. Once it reached its highest point over her head, she waited. Maybe for a feint. Maybe for any sort of movement. I did nothing.

"Go ahead. Kill me."

"HYYYAAAGHGHH!"

And then she finally did it. Within seconds after a bellowing roar, the sound of a heavy slam shook the ground of the arena. Once again, it was filled with a massive cloud of dust. And unsurprisingly, I was still around to feel these tremors for myself.

I was unharmed.

Though my sight was incredibly impaired from the dust that was blowing into my eyes, I could just about see what was straight in front of me: a greatsword. Stuck straight up in a patch of dirt right in front of my feet.

The cloud settled a lot faster this time and as my vision cleared, there was no sign of Anja anymore. She was gone.

I turned around to check the rest of the arena for her but instead...

"KALAYDUS! HIC! Don't do this to me again! Don't do this ever again!" Jaina jumped into my arms insincerely pounding my chest with her fists as she whined to me. I wholeheartedly embraced her as I let her cry herself out.

I chuckled although I myself was still trembling from what just happened. "H...Hey... you know you don't need to do this every time I almost die, right?"

"Shut up, you dummy!" She puffed her cheeks as she nuzzled me even harder.

Suddenly, we both heard a shriek. The shriek of a Mernos. And when we turned to see where it came from, we could only make out the silhouette of someone hanging off of one, heading for Astera.

Jaina clung to me in worry. "Do you... do you think she's going to do something bad?"

"I don't think so. I believe she has way bigger problems on her mind now than letting it out on the other people."

"She really was ready to kill us, huh?"

"Yeah, I think so. Do you... do you hate her still too?"

Jaina thoughtfully looked at the ground. "I don't... I don't know. We fought so many times back then. But now we're not those monsters anymore, or at least we're less of it now. I guess I kind of hoped things would be different."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her against me. "They're going to be different, Jaina. I think we just need to convince Anja that this change doesn't make her weak or any less powerful than anyone else."

"But how do we do that?"

I scratched the back of my head in thought as one... very unusual idea popped into my head. "I think I know one way... but I need your help to do it."

Jaina only cocked her head in confusion as I signaled her to follow me to the remaining Mernos and we headed back to Astera ourselves.

 **[After my PC breaking down, several work projects going on at once and my bike getting stolen, I finally managed to put out a new chapter. I need some tea, sleep and probably a hug but that is no excuse for leaving you guys hanging.**

 **I know it's been a long time since I posted anything and this story came out a bit short, but I hope to be able to divert that time to the next chapter which is going to be a bit longer. I still hope you enjoyed this and are looking forward to what comes next. I'm in a better situation now so that I can spend a little more time on writing for you because I still love doing what I'm doing.**

 **So, all in all, if you liked this, remember to leave a review about what you thought of this story and follow and favorite me and my stuff. I'm gonna leave now and collapse onto my bed.]**


	19. Hindsight

After Anja had completely disappeared from the horizon, Jaina and I used our own Mernos to take flight back to Astera ourselves.

The second we landed on the deck of the Gathering Hub, we were confused at first. Anja was nowhere to be seen, but neither did we notice any disorder or anything that was out of place. She didn't destroy anything in anger and judging by how calm it was in the lower camp, she didn't seem to have taken it out on the other hunters.

That was a relief and a cause of worry at the same time. She could've gone anywhere from here on.

Then finally though, after looking around a bit more, I found the most likely place for her to be at. Seeing as the gate that led into the bow of the ship, where she had been locked up, was slightly ajar.

The sound of muffled clanking rang out from inside and when I caught a glimpse, I saw Anja sitting on the floor with crossed legs and her back turned to the door. She didn't seem angry, enraged or even combative. Just sorrowful and sad.

I stepped back from the door and sighed.

"Is she alright?" Jaina asked carefully as she approached me.

I shook my head. "I can't tell from here. I just... I never know what she's thinking. But you know our plan, right?"

"Right!" She clenched both her fists in a mix of determination and preparedness.

"Good, get the things here, but... give me a minute to talk to her first. I'll give you a signal when you can come in."

Jaina held on to the back of my shoulder before I could turn around and looked at me with a face filled with concern. "Are you sure you can talk to her just like that?"

"She's part of the team as far as I'm concerned. If I start getting paranoid and cautious around her, she's never going to feel like she is. I need to give her the same trust and care as I do with you, Jaina. That's why we're doing this, right?" I smirked a little as I reached out and playfully cupped Jaina's cheek and tickled her behind the ear.

"Hehe, okay. Still, just... be careful around her, alright?"

"You don't need to tell me that twice." I took a deep breath before I reassuringly nodded at Jaina and turned towards the gate. I heard Jaina reluctantly leaving behind me as the hinges of the gate creaked loud enough to obviously announce my entrance.

When I came inside, there was no reaction on Anja's part. No twitch, no gasp, nothing. In fact, as the door swung shut, there were no noises in the wide open, dark room. Just like before, the only light came from the narrow slits in the bow of the ship which spread a slight orange glow from the evening sun inside.

Actually, there was one sound I heard over and over. The sound of clanking metal.

I knew Anja couldn't have been armed with any weapons. At least I was pretty sure about that, since she left her sword back at the arena. But even if she was, I couldn't step back now. I needed to talk to her and she was already aware of my presence anyways. She had to be.

"Anja... I think we need to talk."

The clanking stopped. "Why? It's not going to change what I did. And no matter what I say, it wouldn't be what you want to hear."

"That's where you're wrong! I want to hear what you have to say. You weren't yourself down there, we both know that."

"OF COURSE THAT WAS ME!" Anja shouted, slamming one of her fists onto the wooden floor as she turned around to face me halfway. Her eyes were tear-stained and her voice cracking. "That's what's so scary about this. That's who I was before I came here. You'd think being able to think and understand more would help me control all this anger, but I can't! I almost killed you. You who I promised loyalty to. Just because... because..." Her voice trailed off and there was no answer coming out of her afterwards.

The clanking sound returned and echoed in the room. I cautiously approached her, taking a peek over her shoulder. She was holding her neck shackle. Opening and closing it over and over.

I sighed to myself as I quietly took a seat next to her. "I haven't told you about the things that happened before you woke up, have I?"

She weakly looked over at me, momentarily stopping her fidgeting.

"After me and Jaina arrived in Astera, we both had no clue what we were yet. We were just as confused then as you probably are now. When we discovered what we were, Jaina might've been puzzled, but me? I was furious. My whole life I believed that I was one of their kind. That I was a human. And then they told me that I wasn't. Suddenly I knew the reason why me and my father lived in isolation, why I never met my mother... And I flew off the handle."

Anja perked up a little as I said that and put the shackle aside to listen.

I turned to her and continued my explanation with heavy regret weighing down my words. "I could've killed the commander back then. Even though he was the least responsible in this situation I was about to vent my anger on him. My mind went blank and I felt nothing but aggression. Had Jaina not held me back... I put both of us in danger. I even pushed her to reveal what we were to everyone in Astera, throwing all the progress we made so far down the drain."

Anja's eyes narrowed as if she was trying to comprehend my words. "Why are you telling me that?"

"Because I wanted to give you a prime example of someone who isn't any different than you. Me. It's easy for anyone to fall victim to anger. It happens. We both had reasons, but we both know that what we did wasn't right. So now, you and me both have a choice."

"And that choice is?"

"Repeat it or learn from it." I answered, holding each of my hands up to represent the options before I planted them left and right behind me to lean on them. "Look, I made dumb... dumb mistakes back then for reasons that weren't worth putting myself and others at risk for. But neither you or me intended to do it out of genuine hatred."

Anja looked confused. From her face, I could clearly tell that she was thinking hard about what I was saying and while it seemed to register with her, it didn't seem to make sense to her. "You DID notice that I could've actually killed you, right?"

I shrugged with a little chuckle as even I could see how ridiculously callous I was. "True. But again, I don't think that was because you genuinely hated me. The changes you went through might've been severe, but I could tell that you quickly adjusted to that. so..." I looked over at her with a serious gaze as I tried to assure her that she could talk to me. "...what was the actual reason?"

Her head sunk a bit, her black, flowing hair covering her eyes from my sight as she began to weakly explain herself. "Jaina isn't the only one who has scars she would rather forget about, master."

"Scars?"

Anja wordlessly opened her corset and lifted up her hide shirt to reveal the area between her breasts and her groin. From her lower rib cage down to her belly button, she was riddled with cuts and lacerations. Some older, but some so dark that they must've happened more recently.

My mouth hung open silently as only weak words escaped my lips. "Oh... I... I didn't see those when I changed your clothes earlier."

"You couldn't have. You were behind me when you did." She slid her shirt back down and continued talking as she retied her corset. "Out there... despite what Jaina probably thinks of me, I had to fight for every bit of land that I wanted to own for myself. I had to fight battles with bigger and stronger monsters to stake my claim. They showed no mercy to me either. Everything I earned, I won by the skin of my teeth. But I was proud. Every challenge I overcome just bolstered my confidence. Maybe too much so. I realize now... that I became greedy." Anja clenched her fists. Whether in frustration or guilt, I couldn't tell.

"I took as much land as I could get my claws on. Took it from smaller monsters who wouldn't put up too much of a fight. They weren't strong enough to match my power, so I felt like they didn't deserve the land they had if they were to weak to defend it. I never wanted to risk losing what I had. Wanted to have my own massive territory to make everyone know that I was in charge. But no matter how much I tried to intimidate them. No matter how often I warded them off, they came in and stole my prey, my food and my water over and over. They did it behind my back when I wasn't looking. I earned my right to have all this food; they didn't. At least that's what I thought. And even if I caught them, they wouldn't own up to it and fight with me to the end to prove themselves. They hurt me. Scratched me. Bit me. And then they always ran away with my food. And Jaina... Jaina was one of them."

I sunk down a little as I watched a few droplets of tears fall from behind the curtain of her hair and down onto the floor. I could hear her sobbing lightly, clearly trying to hold it back as best as she could. "I suffered for the things I had! Why shouldn't they? It wasn't fair!"

I carefully reached out to her and pulled her close to me. Shoulder to shoulder, she wiped her tears away and regained her composure as she took a deep breath.

"I see now. But you need to understand that Jaina, just like you, just did what she had to do to survive. Monsters have certain limits. They can only grow so strong before they reach that limit. There was no chance that they could ever grow stronger than you to defend themselves."

Anja looked up at me with trembling, curious eyes. "But... but you did. And you are way smaller and arguably weaker than a monster."

It stung a little to hear those words, but I took it in stride. "Well, that's one of the things that's special about humans. We learn, adapt and grow strong or smart enough to survive and defeat basically anything. Just like you and Jaina can now. You both can overcome things that you never could before."

Anja smiled at me briefly, her tears finally drying up, but then a guilt riddled grimace formed on her face and she rubbed her neck. "Well... I failed at that already. I don't seem to have changed much."

"What do you mean?"

"You want to know what the real reason was that I got so furious at the arena?"

I nodded reassuringly.

She hesitated and even blushed a little. It must've been something she really didn't want me to know. "When I woke up... when I realized that I didn't have anything anymore. I didn't mind it too much. I didn't have to fear about my territory anymore. But what was still on my mind the whole time... was you."

"Me?" I asked confused.

She nodded embarrassed. "Finally there was someone who could measure up to me. Someone who was strong and who I could respect. I pestered the commander over and over to let me speak to the one who defeated me and when you came... not only were you an honorable man, you treated me... like an equal. You teased me and you said things that confused me, but it was never in spite. Here I was, a monster that almost killed you and you were more concerned about me than about revenge. At that moment I thought... even if I didn't have any territory anymore... at the very least I wanted to have you." We faced each other. Her sudden confession making my heart skip a beat in surprise.

Her claw, as gently as Anja could, touched the side of my face. "You saw things in me that even I didn't. You trusted me enough to have me around you and the things you said to me made me feel weaker than I ever felt before that." All of the sudden, she reluctantly took her hand away and retreated back to her former position and averted my gaze. "But then when we reached the arena, I saw you with her. Jaina already had you. It hurt to see that the one thing I still wanted, I couldn't get. So I shut down and... well... you know the rest."

I solemnly listened to her as she distanced herself further to pick up the shackle she put aside. She presented it to me like a submissive servant. "If this is how I react over something so stupid, I can't be trusted. Put this on me. I assume... you have the key still with you."

I turned to look down at my pouch as I ruffle around in it. And indeed, I found it. The small, flat key that could lock her up again. I sighed. "Yeah... I still have it. And this... is what you want?"

"I don't see any other way. This way I can be contained and you no longer have to worry about me attacking you. This is better than embarrassing myself any more." Anja responded, placing the shackle around her neck, ready to be locked shut.

I flipped the key over in my hand several times in thought before I leaned over towards her, gently putting my free hand on her neck to keep the shackle from shuffling around. The key slides into the lock and Anja closes her eyes to wait for the incoming clicking sound.

As her eyes closed, my grip tightened on the key and instead of turning the key around... I snap it off.

Taken aback by the sound that she was not prepared to hear, Anja's eyes slowly opened in confusion. That daze would stay on her face even longer as I took the now unusable shackle and tossed it aside. Anja touched her slightly irritated neck and could only stutter incomplete sentences. "I... what? Why, I... You... Huh?"

I gave her an admittedly pretty unfitting smirk, but her reaction was pretty amusing to me. "You don't need this. WE don't need this."

Anja raised her head to face me and almost immediately averted my sight. "But I... but I did something that put you in danger."

I shrugged and even let out a sympathetic chuckle. "Welcome to the club. I think we've established by now that I don't make the best judgment calls either. We're both not as on top of things as we would like to be sometimes, huh?." I reached out to her to place my hand on her shoulder and once she faced me again, I finally got a smile out of her. "Maybe we can learn to be better together. So what do you say? Partners?"

Anja chuckled lightly as she, for one last time, wiped at her eyes before her former confidence brimmed in her face again. She copied me and put her claw on my shoulder on the other side.

When our smiles met, Anja leaned her head forwards, presenting her forehead to me so that I could meet it with mine. We symbolically sealed our partnership as our foreheads touched and our eyes locked with overflowing confidence.

"Partners." She answered me after a short moment of silence as she seemed to want to keep closer for a while longer.

Her smile faded a little as something seemed to spring into her mind. "But..."

"But?" I asked curiously.

"What about Jaina? Will she be okay with all of this? I almost did things to her that were just as bad. There are so many things I need to tell her." She ashamedly noted, hesitantly distancing herself from me.

I smirked knowingly. "Oh, I think she's okay with this. Otherwise you would've already heard her protesting against it."

Anja cocked her head. "H...Heard her?"

I looked over my shoulder towards the entrance gate as I called out. "Come on, you can come in now, Jaina!"

And the moment I said that, the door swung open with surprising force as Jaina literally dropped in. "WOAH! OOF!" She fell through the door and immediately plopped onto the ground, losing the 3 sleeping bags she was carrying on top of her hammer as well as Anja's massive buster sword that she wore on her back. Sometimes I seriously need to remind myself of how strong she really is.

Jaina quickly fumbled to get herself back up again to look as inconspicuous as possible. "It's alright! I'm fine! Nothing suspicious here. I was JUST about to knock and ask if you were done. Hehe."

While Anja froze dead in place, embarrassment rushing to her face, I grinned back at Jaina who hastily tried to pick up the sleeping bags she dropped. "Sure you were. I kinda had a feeling you would listen in on us. Because you were concerned about my safety of course, right?"

Jaina was about to sheepishly chuckle, but it got stuck in her throat as her and Anja's eyes met. "Yeah... safety. Heh." Her laugh was forced and she quickly touched her cheek in aversion. Both Anja and Jaina didn't dare to face each other.

I took a deep breath and softly called out to Jaina one more time as I signaled her to come closer. "Come on. It's okay now."

Dropping all of her sleeping bags as well as both weapons next to us, Jaina sat down on the right of me, causing me to sit right in between the two girls. Despite that barrier still being there though, Jaina was fast to be the first one to open her mouth. "I forgive you! And I'm super, super sorry!" She barked out.

Anja reeled back for a second before almost competitively retorting. "You're sorry? I'M sorry! I nearly killed you today! Let alone all the other times!"

"Y...yeah, but I stole your food and I hurt you so many times too! Pain is still pain no matter how much it was!"

"I was being too greedy! I took up way too much!"

"But..." "But..." They both immediately barked out before finishing and apologizing with:

"...I'm sorry." "...I'm sorry." And they both shot each other a small, yet genuine grin followed by a reserved giggle.

Jaina followed up on it. "I really didn't know you went through a lot too. I always thought you were just an egoistic, uncaring monster."

Anja scratched her cheek. "I was, to be fair. And I thought you were an egotistical, greedy leech myself. So I think we're even."

Jaina and Anja shared an appreciative smile and I even saw a slight hint of tears welling up in their eyes.

Even with me in between them, they leaned over my knees and embraced each other. I shuffled back a bit to give them a little more space and smiled to myself.

Once they slightly parted from each other, I reached out to pet both of their heads, tickling a happy smile out of them. "I'm proud of you two." It was cute to see the difference between their reaction. While Jaina wholeheartedly enjoyed my caresses, Anja reservedly blushed and avoided eye contact.

"Hey, Jaina, do you want to tell Anja what we planned before?" I brought up, signaling Jaina towards the pile of things she brought with her.

Her face perked up when I sprung her memory again. "Oh yeah! I got everything you asked, Kalaydus! I got Anja's sword back and I brought an extra sleeping bag and our ones too! Was that right?"

I grinned in satisfaction. "Yeah, that's all I asked for. Good job, Jaina."

Anja looked over the pile, pulling her sword out of it and touching the side of the blade which was slightly worn after she used it. Her gaze slowly moved up to face me."Why did you get the sword for me?"

I reached over and closed her claw around the handle. "Well, you're gonna need it if you go hunting with us obviously."

"A...And the sleeping bags?"

Before I could answer, Jaina cut in enthusiastically. "Well, Kalaydus said that he didn't want you to sleep alone in this huge, lonely room. So he suggested that we could all sleep together in here. As a team... you know?"

After taking in what we were saying to her, she gave a slight, disbelieving chuckle and looked over at me. "So on top of handing me the weapon that I used to attack you with, you are willing to sleep in the same room as me, knowing full well that I have said weapon in reach?"

I leaned back a little and shrugged. "Yeah, I am. Because I trust you to not do it again. Plus, it might be a bit cold to sleep outside sooner or later so... works out for all of us, right?" I hid my concern for her behind a bit of sarcasm but still tried to show what I meant by doing it. That I really didn't want her to feel isolated any more.

Anja clearly tried to hide how happy hearing me say that made her at first, but more so than that, she returned an almost snickering laugh.

She shook her head in disbelief and sighed after her short laughing fit. "After all the many different kinds of monsters that I've seen out there, you are the weirdest creature I've ever met."

I chuckled and joked back. "I guess it comes with the field." We shared a good laugh and slowly got ready to prepare the sleeping bags, placing them right next to each other to make a sort of large, soft carpet. The three of us huddled together, for the first time sitting together like a real group and enjoying the now more relaxed atmosphere.

The soft sunlight slowly dimmed and set the room in a moody, violet color.

With all of us this close together, me and Jaina exchanged glances and nodded to each other. Shortly after, I got closer to Anja who jerked up in surprise for a second before blushing deeply as I put my hand on her thigh. "You know, Anja, even after all that talking, I think there is still one problem we haven't addressed yet."

"W...We have? What do you mean?"

"You remember when we fitted your clothes earlier?"

Her eyes widened and her face flushed red as her eyes flicked between me and Jaina who slowly snuggled up to Anja's other side. "M...Master, do you really want to talk about that...now?"

I gently let my fingers glide over her scaly legs until I reached the smooth, human half of them, which made Anja slightly tremble.

Jaina, coming from the other side, copied my moves on Anja's other leg, which left her utterly confused and unable to speak. "Don't worry about it, Kalaydus told me about everything you did. I was a bit jealous at first, but then he had a really, really good idea." Jaina muttered into Anja's ear, playfully kissing her earlobe after she finished her sentence.

Anja gasped in shock. "Jaina?!" But shortly after, I came in whispering into her other ear, which distracted her once more.

"You know, when I did those things to tease you back then, it wasn't because I wanted to mess with you. I wouldn't go that far if I didn't like you in that way. You said that you felt left out and that I already belonged to Jaina. But if I want to call myself a fair team leader, I can't play favorites."

Both me and Jaina started to caress Anja more and more, equally leaving her to melt more and more from the sensations. Heavy, involuntary sighs escaped her lips as Jaina continued to stroke the inside of her thighs underneath her skirt while I got into a position that was fairly familiar to her: Behind her back, outlining the underside of her breasts with my fingers.

Anja faced me halfway, looking over her shoulder as I continued to explain and fondle her. "I wasn't blind to how much you liked it when I touched you like this earlier, you know? So I got to talking with Jaina. And we decided that if we wanted to make you feel part of the team, we should have something like a rite of passage."

Anja could hardly respond as our hands did lewder and lewder things to her but she still muttered the words. "What... nhaaa... did you have in mind?"

I looked over at Jaina, sharing a conspiring smirk with her. "Well, we'll call it a little..."

"...team exercise." "...team exercise."

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 **[Heyo, new chapter here. Well the biggest bulk of it at least. Within the next few days, I will post an extra chapter where the actual smut happens so either look forward to it or if you're not interested in it, feel free to skip it. I just wanted to keep it seperate to give people the option.**

 **Either way, I hope you liked what I came up with for this one. Look forward to next time when the fifth fleet finally arrives and we head out to hunt and bring in our first new monster. The votes were already taken and you have decided to go with Tobi Kadachi as our next newcomer. Hope you're excited for all of that. I sure am myself. Have a good day, night or whatever else and I'll see you next time.]**


	20. Team Excercise

Quiet. It was getting quiet in Astera. Though we barely had a glimpse to the outside through the slits in the top corners of the room, we could tell that it was getting less lively in the camp.

But in all this silence, our room was filled with louder and louder sounds. Sounds of pleasure and arousal. After resolving the meandering tension that permeated within our team, now we were ready to lower our defenses and give ourselves to each other.

When I initially had the idea to involve Anja in the same intimate relationship I had with Jaina, I was worried about the possible repercussions.

To my surprise though, there was very little resistance from Jaina when I brought it up with her. I even prepared myself to be hit or her freaking out on me and it would've been fully deserved for bringing up such a ludicrous idea. But instead, she was all in the second I mentioned it.

Be it due to her easy-going nature, monsters being polygamous or even her just wanting to see Anja being vulnerable and lewd, it led to one hell of a night that neither of us would soon forget.

With me sitting behind Anja and fondling her voluptuous, full breasts on top of her hide shirt and peppering kisses all over her sensitive neck, I got Anja to slowly let loose and caused more and more gasps escape her lips.

The red spots I left on her skin made her feel it even more whenever I touched her. Combined with my hands squeezing and massaging her breasts that didn't even fully fit into the palms of my hands.

But even from the front, she wasn't spared. In a double assault of sensations, Jaina's claw moved underneath Anja's skirt and attacked her unprotected, uncovered pussy. While her mouth was busy kissing and licking her ear with her big tongue, Jaina poked and pinched Anja's swollen clit. It pulsated with anticipation and every touch made Anja buck her hips in response.

I stopped my kisses, admiring how devotedly Jaina was pleasuring her. A pleasant, warm smile crossed my lips and even a small content chuckle escaped me.

Jaina reacted soon, smiling up at me as she let off on her fondling. Anja finally had a chance to catch her breath as both of them curiously looked up at me. While I still kept kneading Anja's breasts, it was more calm and comforting now.

"What'cha smiling for, Kalaydus?" Jaina cheekily asked, giving one last teasing poke to Anja's clit to see her twitching one more time.

Anja herself turned to me as well, a slight sweat building up on her forehead already. She seemed a little frustratingly disappointed that our touches dimmed down a bit and worriedly looked over her shoulder. "Are you... nhhh... messing with me again?"

I chuckled once more "Heh, no, that's not it. Do you think I would after going this far?"

She immediately blushed and turned away, subtly puffing her cheeks and muttering under her breath. "Well... you aren't touching me as excitedly anymore."

I reached around, gently grabbing her chin and turning it around to face me again.

Her eyes widened as I gave her a tender smile and placed a kiss on her lips before an expected gasp could pass through them. I wanted to proof to her that this time I was serious. That this time, I was not just teasing.

I loved this girl just as much as I loved Anja. Both very different in nature but both of them now being a huge part of my life and future. If I wanted to be a leader to these two, I had to share my love equally between them and give them each as much personal attention and care as I could.

Anja and I only kissed with closed mouths but it was enough to convey what I meant to get across to her. Her lips and mine shared a similar deep warmth and maybe because we both were part fire wyverns, there was an incomparable heat to our kiss as if literal embers permeated between our mouths.

When we finally parted, Anja was in a daze and my fingers slowly slid off her chin. "I'm not messing around this time, Anja. Actually, I've been thinking about us and got a bit distracted by my thoughts."

Both of them perked up, Anja still trying to recover from the warmth that was clouding her confused mind and Jaina enjoying to watch Anja being so lost and eager to hear what I was about to say.

I rubbed my neck abashedly and sheepishly smiled at the two expectant girls. "I heh... I guess I just never expected things to work out this well. You two actually seem to have made up now and I feel like... maybe we three can finally get something off the ground here. I suppose what I want to say is... I'm happy that we can be a team. And I promise you, I'm going to take care of both of you. I need to be better at a lot of things and with you two, I finally have a good reason to be."

Jaina and Anja both smiled at me, one more reserved than the other but equally genuine. Jaina leaned over, not able to resist the urge to latch onto my lips. While Anja stared on in slight jealousy, Jaina nuzzled up against my face and blissfully wrapped her arms around my neck. Her eyes met mine and our foreheads touched, pecking at each other's mouths repeatedly.

After a moment of a kind of warm, somber silence, Jaina was the first to speak up. "You know... maybe you should've saved that speech for later."

I cocked my head in confusion as Jaina reluctantly let go of me. "What? Why?"

Anja gasped for a second as Jaina reached around her and slowly replaced me in my position behind her. Jaina made a show of slowly but surely getting a hold of Anja's thighs and spreading her legs wide open. Now placed in front of her, I was greeted by Anja's agape pussy flashing from underneath her barely covering skirt.

"Anja isn't officially a member yet." Jaina smirked, presenting Anja to me like a treasured prize. "We need to complete the team first. Then we can talk all we need to. You don't want to leave Anja hanging, do you?"

I gulped, unprepared for the actual moment of action. When my eyes met Anja's, a reserved, blushing smile crossed her lips, with her trying to hide it in embarrassment and thinking I wouldn't notice it. When she finally turned to face me again, bringing up the courage to meet my gaze, I was already leaning over her. It wasn't hard to strip off my armor once I got used to it, so it didn't take long for me to strip down to my bare skin. Anja scanned my body the whole time, trying to hide her excitement as she laid eyes on my naked body for the first time.

It was fair enough. So far it's only been me who had seen her naked but now we were finally even and could lay down all of our inhibitions. We knew exactly what we were working with.

As I loomed over her, Anja's heart was visibly pounding and small embers once again poured out from the edges of her mouth. A small smirk from me was enough to skyrocket her excitement and I smoothly stroked the underside of her chin. "Hey, Anja. What do you say? Do you think you're ready?"

She stuttered, her legs twitching in anticipation and her pussy leaking profusely. There was nothing she could hide from me anymore. "I...if you'll have me I'd allow you to... do whatever you want. If you want me that badly, m...master."

I leaned in towards her and whispered. "I do." My hand gently moved from her chin to her cheek, cupping it in my palm and having her ear in between my fingers. "Does that make you happy, Anja? How about you? Do you want me?"

I could feel the heat of the blood rushing to her face through my hand and her eyes were quivering as she gulped and played hard to get. She cutely squeaked in repressed tension. A side of her that I never expected to see. She realized this just as quickly as I did and cleared her throat. "I...I wouldn't... not be happy to have s... se..."

I inched even closer, agonizingly close to her lips. "Come on, say it."

I could see her lips trembling, urging to kiss me again. And finally she let go of her restraints. "...have sex with you, master." Her arms wrapped around my neck as she passionately yet reservedly stared into my eyes. "I want to have sex with you too, master."

My heart skipped a beat when I finally heard her say it. "Hey, Anja..."

"Yeah?" She muttered, unsure of what I was going to say next.

I combed through her hair, responding in an equally hushed tone. "Welcome to the team..." And as I let my other hand guide my erect, impatient cock towards her welcoming folds... "...properly this time." ...I submerged it within her, pushing through the tight corridors of her flesh.

The resistance was strong at first, probably in reaction to the foreign intrusion, but once my head entered, the rest of my length continually went deeper and deeper. I felt the heat of her walls clamp down on me. Her face was contorted in a mixture of wanting to push forward and the pain of me spreading her open. Hissing sparks erupted from her gasping mouth but I quickly kept them from lashing out, locking her lips with mine.

I made sure to be gentle and carefully inched ahead. Her pussy was incredibly wet inside, but even with that, the tension still made it hard to make progress. Every crease and fold stuck to me like a suction cup and kissed the entire length of my cock.

With every inch, Anja arched her back more and more. Thankfully Jaina was there to support her, doing her best to massage and grope Anja so she would be relaxed and distracted. With her arms firmly wrapped around her, she slipped off the top of Anja's shirt, uncovering her ample tits. Exctept for a small frame around her belly, nothing was left covered anymore.

Anja could hardly put up resistance when Jaina firmly clutched her breasts and roughly started assaulting them. Her claws dug into her juicy flesh, contorting them into all sorts of shapes. With Anja lusciously moaning into her ear, Jaina got visibly excited from watching me penetrate her and getting to grope Anja's massive orbs. You could even see a hint of jealousy as she violently toyed with them to the point where the flesh was bulging out between her claws. "You're so lucky, Anja. I still remember my first time with Kalaydus. Savor it. It's only going to get better from here!" Jaina almost whined her last words. As an outlet for her own arousal, she started licking the inside of Anja's ears.

"Nnnhhh! Smack! Slurp! MMNNHHHH!" Anja was bursting at the seams. Her face was beet red in a mix of embarrassment and ecstasy. Her eyes hooded and focused when they met mine and as if a floodgate had been broken, she bucked her hips upwards to force the rest of my cock into her. Once I felt myself knock against the back of her love canal, my teeth clenched and my muscles tensed. I was not prepared for how quick it went. Suddenly, my entire length plunged into her, squeezed tightly from every side by her moist, fleshy walls.

Anja's eyes rolled back into her skull and her entire body spasmed from the heavy orgasm that hit her. I think even she wasn't prepared for the amount of pleasure she would feel.

I gently held her, worried that she was going to pass out, but once again, she proved to me that her willpower was strong enough on its own. It took her just a moment to recompose herself with only slight twitches and labored breath. Her distant eyes almost looked through me as she stared at me with wanton lust. "This... more... I want more of this, master. Love me. Make a mess of my body. Please!" Her eyes were begging, almost desperate. She wanted to feel more.

My body trembled. It took every muscle of my body to not blow my load. I took a hold of her luscious thighs and started to thrust. As soon as I started to fuck her, her body contorted in irregular movements, causing Jaina to let go of her and let her lie down on the soft carpet of sleeping bags.

On the floor, I continued to rock her body, crashing into her hips repeatedly while grinding the underside of her pussy's walls with my dick. From this angle, I managed to prod, scrape and knock against her insides as I crushed her body underneath me. Her strong tail swayed restlessly from side to side, twitching every time I plunged into her.

Her arms fall off from around my neck and instead her claws dig into the furry floor. Instead, her legs took over the job of holding onto me. Her clawed feet crossed behind my back and locked tight enough to keep me in place but not tight enough to keep me from thrusting.

With one arm next to her hip and the other over her head, she bit her lip, her breath quickening more and more. "F...hhhhaaa... FUCK! Master! Mmmmmaaassteerr!" The last word came out as an elongated moan, reverberating in the room due to its bass.

Her hair stuck to her head, literally glistening with sweat. From her position I must not have looked any better. My black hair that usually went straight backwards suddenly hung from the side of my face and droplets of sweat hung off of it. I tried to reach out and wipe it out of her face... but suddenly... there was another hand doing it before I could. Jaina's claw to be exact.

Just as surprised as me, Anja looked up. Unaware to us, Jaina had been completely stripping down, leaving her full, amazing body uncovered. Her breath was excited and a delirious smile crossed her lips.

"Jaina? W...what are you doing?" Anja asked, most likely seeing Jaina upside down and kneeling over her. A deep blush came to her face once she turned her eyes upwards a bit more and saw Jaina's smooth, dripping wet pussy above her.

Jaina dragged her canine tooth over her lips. "This is a 'team' exercise, remember? You two seem to hog a lot of the limelight for yourselves, and to be honest..." She stopped, spreading the lips of her cunt, revealing the fleshy yellowy green insides. "...I'm getting kind of jealous. You wouldn't mind sharing the fun, would you Anja?"

Anja was speechless. With everything that was going on, her mind was overloaded.

Jaina closed her eyes and smiled brightly, almost pretend innocently. "Glad you understand."

With her thick thighs closing around Anja's face, Jaina sat down on her head, suggestively pushing her pussy against Anja's lips. Temptingly, she swayed her butt from side to side and squeezed one of her cheeks for show. "Please, don't leave me hanging, Anja. I deserve some too, right? You're already keeping his cock all to yourself today. The least I want... is your tongue." Jaina whined a little, pouting and eagerly awaiting to be serviced. She was longing for pleasure and it showed.

Anja stared for a while, having the dripping honeypot right in front of her and feeling the heat waft down. She was shy, hesitating to stretch her tongue out.

It was probably a bit mean, but I pushed my hips forward, grinding her cervix. Unprepared for me moving again, Anja's tongue almost reflexively stretched out of her mouth for a gasp.

In the very second she did, Jaina took the opportunity and started grinding on her slippery, wet muscle. I stopped in my tracks as I watched Jaina bite her lips and enjoy the ride. Though she was hesitant at first, soon I could tell that Anja was getting into it herself. Slurping and sucking sounds emanated from her moistening lips. Even her claws which were formerly gripping the floor now held on to Jaina's legs to get a better hold of them.

Visibly enjoying it, Jaina reacted by clamping her legs even tighter around Anja's head. Jaina hissed several times, gasping and choking on her breath as she looked up with hooded eyes and faced me with a loving smirk. "Hehe, I suppose she won't be able to hear us for a bit now."

I chuckled along with her as I reached out to cup her cheek and gently touch the edge of her lips with my thumb. "You're being pretty aggressive, Jaina. Kind of bullying her a bit there, aren't you?"

Jaina shyly blushed a little but laughed soon after, interspersed with a few hisses as Anja works her tongue. "Maybe a little. But she got to have a moment with you and she even gets to have sex with you today. Look, I gave up on having my turn today, but I still wanted to have some time with you too. Can't I be a little selfish from time to time?"

With gentle guidance I led her towards my lips as our smiles spread into a gaping mess of tongues and saliva. A deep kiss with her, still feeling just as amazing as our first one. We got lost in a trance as we fully submitted ourselves to each other. As I parted, I began thrusting into Anja again, which consequently led to her licking Jaina more wildly than before. It was like a chain reaction starting with me and ending at Jaina who loudly moaned from the sudden increase in roughness.

I smirked at her. "I think it's okay to be selfish sometimes. I promise I'll take care of you both. I love you, you know?"

Jaina smiled widely, rubbing her face against my hand. "I know." She chuckled as she wiggled from left to right, looking down at Anja, devotedly lost in eating out Jaina. "I'll just...nghh... speak for both of us. I love ghh...you too."

I could tell Anja heard what we were talking about. Her pussy tightened and had built up a significant amount of juices. I called out to her as I grabbed her hips. "What do you think, Anja? Ready for the finale?"

While I didn't get an audible response, her legs tightened around my back and she pulled me in deeply. Her eyes closed and she fully committed herself to thrusting her sharp tongue into Jaina. Her face was a mess, but she couldn't care less at this point.

"I guess that means yes."

From that moment on, we all moved as one. Jaina leaned on her arms, bucking her hips while Anja's tongue explored the inside of her honey pot. Anja held on to me and Jaina at the same time, sweating all over and drowning in pleasure. And lastly there was me, watching these two girls driven wild as I barely held back my cum. The sight, the smell and the sounds pushed me closer and closer to the edge.

It was like everything went silent, only seeing what was right in front of me. Anja's pussy tightened and squirmed around my cock. I knew she was close and so was I.

I hunched over, steadying myself as I grunted loudly.

Just like before, a chain reaction followed. I came hard, moaning and splattering my cum over her insides. In return, Anja was screaming through her orgasm, popping her wet mouth off of Jaina. Together, both girls exploded into ecstasy. Jaina arched her back, squirting juices all over Anja's breasts and face while Jaina's juices splashed onto and around my crotch.

Our cries melted together in a huge mixture of pleasure and we each released everything we had. Our bodies heavy, our minds fried and exhaustion slowly kicking in. A mess of liquids formed around us and after several twitches, we finally relaxed.

I was the first to grow limp in the body, exhausted and pulling my cock out of Anja. It was like a plug being pulled, releasing the excess cum from within.

I tumbled over, falling down next to Anja and rolling onto my back as I wiped the sticky sweat from my forehead.

Following right after me was Jaina, smiling dumbly and rolling right over me. With Anja already laid down, she was the only one who didn't have to move. She was still recovering, breathing heavily with her chest heaving up and down.

The cool of the night slowly settled in, gradually outweighing the heat of our bodies.

Lying there, next to each other, we still couldn't believe what we had done. Starting with me, we all started to laugh at ourselves. "Heh, well, that's that. Initiation complete." I playfully raised my finger like I made a declaration before my arm limply plopped down next to me.

Anja, through her labored breath and sweat, turned her head and smiled knowingly. "That's not actually a rite of passage, is it?"

Jaina rolled over, blissfully closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around me to cuddle up. "Don't question it, Anja. Just go with it." She sighed pleasantly, resting her head on my shoulder.

I expectantly look over at Anja, a warm smile crossing my face. I welcomingly pat the free spot next to me and cock my head to tell her she can come closer.

She acted like she didn't want it and playfully rolled her eyes. I could still see the little smirk that followed it and sure enough, she nuzzled up to me and hummed happily. Her hand on my chest, she softly laid her head on my other shoulder. Her entire body presses up against my side and it didn't take long for her to be so comfortable that she fell asleep on the spot.

When I turned my head once again, Jaina was already snoozing too.

I lifted both of my hands to run them through their hair. Blonde, dirty and coarse hair on one side. Black, smooth and wavy on the other.

It was an almost familiar feeling. Two sweet girls as different as night and day finally seeing eye to eye and sharing this vulnerable moment.

"We'll be the best team in all of Astera. I'll make sure of it. Sweet dreams, girls. Sweet dreams." I said to myself, placing a kiss onto their heads.

And shortly afterwards, everything went black. The tiredness finally caught up with me.

It was fair to say, I was excited to see what tomorrow would bring.


	21. Important announcement! (Update)

Hey guys, Alleskeins here,

I've had a long break by now and I've been thinking about my works for a while now. I wanted to branch out and stretch my creative muscles a bit to avoid the burnout that I felt with the series that I'd been working on.

I looked back on the Monster Hunter series especially and how I said I was burnt out on it, but now that I am reading through it again and see how passionate you guys were about the story, I'm happy to make an announcement.

It's coming back.

I think it still has some juice left and a fair bit to go before I exhausted all the possibilities with this story. It'll continue right where we left off and Tobi Kadachi is still going to be the next monster coming in the line up.

With so many stories going on at once now, you might have to be a little patient between chapters, but I think you're probably used to that by now. I'll do my best to keep it interesting and to upload as frequently as I can without exhausting myself again.

See you again soon, hunters. Expect much more content.

Alleskeins

[This notification will stay up as a chapter to notify people. Please move on to the next chapter once it's out to continue the story.]


	22. The new hunter

I opened my eyes to a ray of sunlight breaking through the thin slits in the bow of the ship. It would've been pretty uncomfortable if it hadn't immediately been followed by the a feeling of two soft bodies snuggled up against me. I reluctantly forced my eyes to open and looked to my right and left, reaffirming to myself that what happened last night was actually real.

Both Anja on my right and Jaina to my left, the two girls clung to my arms. I felt a slight cold come off from Jaina due to her cold blood while Anja gave off a radiating deep heat coming from her core. I really couldn't decide which one I liked better but either way, I would unfortunately have to get up sooner or later.

I groggily sat up, carefully snaking my arms out from underneath the girls. I stretched with a muffled yawn and wiped the sand from my eyes. I limply grabbed my undergarments and dressed myself before heading for a water bowl in the corner of the room. It must've been Anja's from when she was still chained up in here.

I splashed my face and poured a bit of the water around my neck. I saw my reflection in the water and touched my chin. My beard had grown surprisingly thick over these past few days. For a moment I thought about shaving it with my blade... but yeah, that would have been an incredibly stupid idea.

I decided to leave it be for now and headed over to sit on Anja's old bunk. It was about time I started my work on the Field Guide. After all I already had two monsters to fill the entries of. I flipped through the few pages it had by now and found the first entry:

"Anjanath, Brute Wyvern. So far only found in the Ancient Forest. Data might be subject to change after further investigations."

Beneath its entry, I saw a caricature of an Anjanath, observed characteristics and an open space left for additional information. When I turned a few other pages over to look at the other entries, including Jaina's, I noticed that this was almost all the information they contained. Practically only the shallow basics. It was up to me, to complete it.

I grabbed a pen, attached to the book itself, and started adding to it.

"The Anjanath is a territorial and aggressive creature which creates fire with flammable liquids with a flame sac that it stores within its throat. Attack the throat itself to stifle its ability to create more of it to make the fight easier. Remember, that the flame sac won't be disabled forever and may regenerate."

Along with those notes, I took down all of the materials I got from Anja's old shell and a drawn cross section of her body with weak points and breakable parts. At least those I knew already.

I turned to the Great Jagras page and did the same there, putting in everything I knew about Jaina.

The Great Jagras is at the bottom of the food chain in the Ancient Forest. Despite this, it has an incredible fighting spirit and won't back down from a challenge. It has an insatiable appetite but is harmless towards hunters if unprovoked. If you do engage in combat with it, don't act careless or it WILL catch you off guard."

I closed the book, took a deep breath and stuffed it back into my pouch. There was much more information to be gathered and even what I had about Anja and Jaina was surface level at best. All of the information I knew, basically boiled down with one or two fights with either of them. I knew nothing about their elemental weaknesses of afflictions that they were vulnerable to. The thought of having to fight against them and hurt them to learn more about their weak points really didn't sit right with me though.

There had to be another way. Maybe I could just ask them. Maybe...

I turned my head to look over the two sleeping girls. The fanged, yellow wyvern and the pink brute wyvern. Two former enemies now snuggling up together in one bed. If only they could see themselves right now. With me no longer being there, they had shimmied closer together and held hands while softly snoring into each other's face. And to think just yesterday they wanted to kill each other. The duality of nature I guess.

Quietly, I got up and headed for the entrance gate. It was time for breakfast and maybe if I was careful, I could go and get it before Anja and Jaina got up. The floor boards creaked but that obviously wasn't enough to wake them up, I mean the ship was constantly creaking anyways.

I reached for the door handle and...

 **BANG**

"RISE AND SHINE, HUNTERS!"

With unparalleled enthusiasm, the Commander announced himself while slamming the heavy, wooden door straight into my face. My skull rang from the impact and I fell onto my back. The edge of the door struck me right across the eye and I didn't even have to look at my reflection to know that it was turning blue. I reached for it with my hand as I swallowed the pain.

"What're you lying down again for, boy? It's the prime of day!"

I didn't even want to rebuke him and just responded. "I was already up, sir. Just wanted test the sturdiness of the floor."

"Well, you better get up again. I have incredible news!"

"Gargwa eggs and Mosswine bacon for breakfast?" I looked up, hopefully.

"Don't be silly, hunter!" He answered with a deep chuckle.

"Then it wasn't worth it." I said disappointedly as I let my head fall back onto the floor.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." I said, before groaning and sitting up.

Of course, all of that ruckus didn't go unnoticed by the girls as Anja as well as Jaina, groggily got up and rubbed their eyes as they adjusted to the bright light coming through the open door. The timing couldn't have been any worse.

As soon as they laid eyes on me, lying on the floor with a blue eye and the Commander standing in the door with an enthusiastic expression as if he was ready to fight... yeah, it didn't exactly spell "peaceful morning".

Jaina immediately sprinted over to me while Anja swiftly grabbed her greatsword and got up in the Commander's face.

"Kalaydus, what did he do to you? Where did he hurt you?! Are you gonna die?!" Jaina yelled at me, one question leaving her mouth faster than the last as she looked over my body in panic.

Meanwhile at the door, Anja pointed the long, sharp edge of her sword right at the Commander and stared him down. "I knew you were evil from the day you chained me down in here. And now dare to ambush my master and hurt him? I will fight for his honor so draw your weapon, you coward! I won't tolerate you any LONG..."

"GIRLS!" I yelled loudly, making everyone stop in their tracks.

"Huh?" "Huh?" They responded in unison and turned to me. Jaina in the middle of wanting to get bandages and Anja readying her sword for a strike, keeping it mere inches away from his head.

"Anja, holster your sword and Jaina, I'm not hurt anywhere. Nothing happened! I'm alright!" I explained, slowly getting up as the situation finally calmed down.

"But... the Commander! And your eye!" Jaina hesitantly protested, not quite willing to give up on treating me.

"I know, but it was just an accident. It's nothing. Seriously, Anja, take your sword down." I ordered, turning to Anja mid-sentence.

In response, she still stared down the Commander but at least she laid down her sword before turning away from him. "I'll still keep an eye on you. Don't get any stupid ideas!"

"Good morning to you as well, Anja." He answered with the same stoic expression as ever.

Both of the girls came up to me, Jaina tapping her claws together apologetically while Anja still shot distrustful glares over her shoulder.

"Sorry, Kalaydus. We really thought you were in danger. You looked like you took a really hard hit."

"I was ready to fight him at any time if you wanted me to. You saw that, right?" They each explained themselves with partially apologetic and determined expressions.

I smiled and reached for the side of their heads, petting them behind their ears. "I know girls, I know. I'm not mad either. Just try to keep calm and check the situation before you react like that, you understand?"

"Got it." "Got it." Both of them guiltily responded, blushing a little as I caressed the sides of their faces.

"Alright. Anyways. Commander, you had something you wanted to tell me before, right? Well now you can tell all of us at least. So what is it?"

He held back from commenting on the situation any further. He must've really had something more important to address.

He cleared his throat and proudly announced "I want all of you down by the pier immediately. I want you to look presentable so I hope your clothes and armor are clean!"

"Are we getting a delivery from the Old World? Do you need our help unloading? Because that doesn't sound like anything THAT important or unusual."

"A delivery... heh, I guess you could call it that. It's probably better if you see for yourself. 10 minutes, Kalaydus. And ladies... the rule with the clean armor doesn't necessarily apply to you but I would appreciate if you wore something to begin with." He said nonchalantly as he turned around and left, leaving Anja and Jaina to realize that they'd jumped out of bed completely naked.

Anja just shrugged at the realization while Jaina squeaked and hastily covered up her sensitive parts even though it was way too late for that. But it's good to know that at least one of them had developed a feminine sense of shame by now. Maybe Anja would get to that point eventually too. One can only hope.

Once we all finally got ready and came to the harbor, we were immediately surprised by the hastiness and unrest in the lower parts of Astera. People carrying crates from A to B, the Smithy stocking up on materials and working tirelessly on forging an arsenal of weapons of all kinds and at the pier, where the Commander told us to meet him, every hunter and huntress of Astera was lined up in two opposing rows. There was broad gap in one of them, leaving just enough space for 3 people. Assuming that they were meant for us, me, Jaina and Anja filled the gap and got into a straight-standing position.

The people across from us seemed unperturbed by our intrusion, Even more so, they practically ignored us. It seemed like they were just as clueless as we were about what was happening.

"Pretty big measures for a shipment. What do you think all of this is for?" Anja turned to me, asking me curiously.

"I might have an idea as to what it could be but... I can't imagine that they'd already be here."

"You're talking about the 5th fleet, right?" Jaina interjected.

As I looked out onto the ocean, I nodded even though I still doubted it myself. "We've sent for them a few days ago but with all the necessary preparations it would take weeks before they'd be ready to set sail."

Anja seemed to have something on her mind and looked at me inquiringly. "I never really asked you. What exactly are all these fleets? Are they your packs or something like that?"

I looked out towards the horizon as I started explaining. "A long time ago, a group of ships set out explore the world for new landmasses and continents to settle and investigate. We wanted to catalogue everything this world had to offer and it turns out there was much left to find. When they found the New World, a whole new continent, they were the first to settle here and became known as the first fleet. They were the ones who started a settlement that is Astera now. After them came the 2nd and third fleet. The second were mainly traders, suppliers and craftsmen who helped shape and expand Astera into a more complex, functional camp."

Other hunters started listening, even though most of them probably already knew the story of the fleets. I guess anything that helped distract from the stress of not knowing what was to come was welcomed by them.

"The third on the other hand were scientists and researchers mostly interested in the unique ecosystems of the New World. They were made up mostly of Wyverians, a highly intelligent and refined race who apparently are genetic offspring of the Wyverns though nobody knows how this evolution occurred. And of course then came the 4th fleet. It was the first one that sent actual hunters to the New World that would go after all the new species that inhabit this continent while examining them and developing strategies to deal with them in the most effective manner. We were mostly newcomers, supposed to populate Astera and help keep the camp safe from threats until the main forces arrived and those forces... are the 5th fleet."

Everyone started talking among themselves when I mentioned them, sharing the thought that they may be the ones heading for our shores.

"The 5th fleet are the Ace hunters. Hunters who have already made a name for themselves in the Old World and who are coming here to face the challenge of new, unfamiliar monsters and possibly Elder Dragons. They are the reason we found this continent in the first place. The elder dragons migrate here every 10 years though we don't know why yet. That's one of the main reasons we're here. To find out exactly what drives them to come here."

Anja scowled a little in thought when she followed my gaze. "So, do you think these expert hunters will give you an answer to your question?"

"I couldn't tell you honestly. But at the very least, they are our best chance if we're going to face the Elder Dragons. Seeing as Astera is still standing, we've been lucky enough not to have met them yet."

"And it will keep standing as long as I'm here, Hunter."

I turned around, as the booming voice of the Commander caught my attention. Like most of the others, I didn't even notice that he had arrived. "Commander! I... I just wanted to explain..."

"I am aware and I'll tolerate it, but you might want to pay attention from here on, Kalaydus." He interrupted me in a calm yet firm announcement.

"Right, understood, sir." I firmly got back into an upright position, imitating the others while Anja and Jaina followed my lead.

Everyone, even some of the traders and researchers gathered around to pay attention to hear the news.

The Commander marched to the end of the pier and turned around before clearing his throat and his commanding, booming voice ringing out. "Hunters, I have news from the mainland. A message, sent by the Commission themselves." He explained as he pulled out a thick, important-looking scroll, the already popped seal of the Commission dangling from the lower half.

"We hereby announce that despite the former arrangements, our previous time of arrival has been nullified. A party of our most eager hunters has set out for Astera much earlier than anticipated. Arguments were useless and we had no intention of stopping them. News about both the new Monsters and the new ways of pacifying the former..." I perked up a little as his eyes shortly focused on me before he turned back to reading. "... seem to have stirred their hunting spirits and they hired themselves an unmarked vessel to reach Astera as soon as possible. Expect arrival around the time this message reaches you. Signed and sealed by the heads of the Commission."

He let go of the lower half of the scroll, making it snap back up into its rolled up form.

Everyone was excited and now even more restless than before. "Well, what do you say? How about we welcome them home, eh?" The Commander bellowed out, followed by uproarious cheers from the other hunters who looked forward to the arrival of the ship that was slowly crossing over the horizon. You could see the mast slowly piercing the skyline until an unmarked sail and finally the body of the ship was visible.

Tensions grew more and more as the ship headed straight for our pier. My heart racing. My expectations probably unreasonably high. My hand was slightly trembling as I forced myself to not let my nervousness show too much until I felt someone hold it. I looked into the shining eyes of Jaina who told me: "Hey, don't worry too much, they're just humans, right? You can handle them. You've dealt with monsters before." She said with an encouraging grin after she shrugged as if I should know this already.

I didn't know if she actually thought I was preparing to fight them like I did with her and Anja when we first met, that didn't make her words mean any less to me though. I smiled at her and gripped her claw in return, subtle enough for most people to not notice and the ones who did, cared little about it. They were much more busy prepping themselves and looking presentable.

And then, it finally happened. The ship dropped its anchor while steering itself side-ward. Deck hands threw tows over the railing for others to tie it to the poles of the walkway.

I don't know what I was expecting to come out of that boat, but the moment I actually did see the hunters disembarked, those expectations were still surpassed. The pier creaked under the collective weight of their armors and weapons. Some of the designs, I actually recognized from the Old World. Black Diablos Armor, Kushala Daora and many more Elder dragons as well as all kinds of other exotic designs. But even among this crowd of clearly high rank hunters, one of them stood out more than anyone else.

One of them, I couldn't quite tell if it was a man or a woman, wore a full set of Silver Rathalos Armor. The face was covered by a black mask and an eye-shield, the body with heavy Rathalos plates and steel. Black spikes all over her shoulders, arms and legs. On the back, she carried an insect glaive, equally forged out of Silver Rathalos parts. The staff part was a shimmering sheen of silver and the 2 blades at the tip glowing with scorching oranges and reds.

I must've been staring at them more obviously than I thought, because it didn't take long for them to take notice of me. While the other Ace hunters received a thunderous, welcoming applause, our gazes locked and it felt like everything around quieted down. I felt a tense air between us and soon they walked towards me. I gulped as their heavy steps came closer and closer to me until they finally stopped right in front of me.

We stared at each other for a bit longer while I had to try not to show how nervous I was. I was desperately waiting for them to say SOMETHING, but it took an excruciatingly long time.

Finally, just two words. "Your weapons." She said in a calm, yet demanding tone.

"Excuse me?" I asked perplexed.

"Your blades. Hand them over." She stated more clearly. At least from this sample of her voice I could tell that it was a woman under that helmet but that didn't make her any less intimidating.

I complied, still confused, and unsheathed my blades, putting them into her hands.

With one in each hand, she seemed to be weighing them before inspecting them closer. "What rank are you, hunter?"

A drop of sweat ran over my forehead. "I just started. I still only have Low Rank clearance. Hunter Rank 5 I think?"

"Those are some pretty nice blades you got there for being such a rookie. Good craftsmanship and clearly made from superior materials. How did you get your hands on those? I don't assume you've stolen them, right?" She asked as she lifted one of them up. My eyes followed the dangling movement of my father's amulet as it swayed from side to side at the handle.

"No, I gathered the materials on my own and got it forged. Now could I have them back please?"

"No need to get antsy. I'm just checking your equipment."

Getting nervous, I squeezed my fists. I felt uncomfortable watching her carelessly wave my weapons around while the amulet was slowly slipping off the handle. "Still, I'd really like to have them back now. You've checked them enough."

"What's the matter? Did you steal them after all and don't want people to see?"

Without another word from her mouth, I grabbed both swords out of her hands in one swoop and quickly tightened the knot of the amulet before letting out a sigh of relief.

The ace huntress was surprised by my sudden move and once again blankly stared at me.

I awkwardly chuckled. "Heh, uhm, you can have them again now... if you want." I said reluctantly as I carefully extended them to her. She however denied and I due to the mask I couldn't even tell if she was offended, confused or whatever she might have thought of the situation.

The awkward silence was broken up by the Commander who finally noticed the tension that had built up between us. He stepped up to the two of us and inquired. "So, what seems to be the matter here? Is everything in order?"

The huntress didn't answer at first, but before anyone else could open their mouths for another question, she hooked her fingers underneath her helmet and took it off.

The girl underneath the helmet had an incredibly distinct look. Light dark skin, even darker freckles on her cheekbones and a hint of a jagged scar across her forehead, underneath her bangs of snowy white, shortly cut hair. Her eyes were piercing with violet irises and sharp edges. At a glance, I couldn't even tell where she could've been from. I knew of no place in the Old World where looks like hers could originate from.

"Is this him?" She asked the Commander while still keeping her eyes on me.

"It is, seems like I didn't even have to bring you together. Did you two have any trouble with each other?"

The woman eyed my blades, specifically now the amulet that was hanging off it. I sighed a bit and bowed apologetically as I explained. "Look, this is an amulet that my fath... that means quite a lot to me. I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't get damaged. I apologize for..."

"No need." She interrupted me abruptly.

Surprised by her cutting me off, I looked up to see her pull up a necklace that was hanging around her neck and tucked into her armor. It was a kind of necklace that I knew all too well from the Old World. A necklace with an pendant of the Sapphire Star. The star that a lot of people from the mainland prayed to for good fortune and guidance. "I have one of my own that I couldn't stand to lose either. Anyhow, my name is Aela. You must be Kalaydus. Heard quite a lot about you in the past few weeks."

"Depending on who told you those things that could either be good or bad."

"I'd rather find that part out myself. What's certain, is that you made quite a name for yourself in the short time you've been here and to be honest, you've made me quite curious. A no-name, inexperienced hunter from a remote village suddenly becoming the talk of the New World, being the half son of a wyvern and discovering a new way to capture monsters alive. Gotta say, you went all in pretty fast. Most of us only even get started after we get High Rank clearance."

I abashedly rubbed my neck, not sure if this was a compliment or mockery, but at least now I had a face to the voice. It did suit her pretty well. Still feminine but very commanding. Almost like a female General or an overly strict mother. "Well, I'm trying to get by. Haven't made the best of impressions with some people here but I think I can at least call Astera my home now. Welcome to the New World by the way. Must've been quite a journey, especially in such a rush."

Now it was her time to be weirdly bashful. She put her helmet under her arm and chuckled. "Well, it was alright. If you start wearing your equipment long enough it almost feels like a second skin. Besides, my mind at least was busy with something else entirely." Her eyes swayed from left to right, looking at Anja first and then at Jaina.

They seemed to have been occupied with something else, or at least they pretended to ignore Aela's presence. Unlike me, they barely showed any sign of respect or reverence. Jaina seemed more distracted with getting knots out of her hair while Anja just gazed over the crowd of hunters. Her mind seemed to be occupied with examining the massive greatswords they were carrying on their backs.

Both of them jumped slightly when they met Aela's eyes. "So, you must be the two monsters turned human. Anja and Jaina, right?"

In response, she was met with silence and examining looks. Anja's was the first to speak up, commenting on Aela's equipment. "That's a pretty flimsy weapon you got there? Thought you'd have moved on from using sticks to fight."

Without even reacting to that statement, Aela simply acknowledged "You must be Anja then. An Anjanath, huh? Wish I could've seen you before you turned. I heard your kind is pretty ferocious and savage. It would have been an honor to fight you." She said, slightly bowing honorably.

Anja gave a surprised smirk, not expecting her to show that much respect. She crossed her arms cockily and responded. "I've learned from my master that you can have quite a lot of power even in a body like this. I haven't lost a single bit of my strength. We can still carry out that fight you wish for later."

Aela chuckled in return, relaxing her attitude around the girls. "Looking forward to it, Anja. This "flimsy stick" carries a lot more punch than you think as well."

Suddenly, Anja went completely blank-faced serious. "Just so you know, I do not appreciate you talking to my master like he is subordinate to you. If you keep disrespecting him or think you can demand things from him like you did before, I will make you regret it."

Taken slightly aback but not quite intimidated, Aela backed off. "Huh. Understood." Now she turned to Jaina, who once again jumped as she was met with Aela's gaze.

"Jeez, stop doing that. You're making me uncomfortable." She said with a quivery voice.

"Jaina, am I correct?"

"Yes? I am?" She asked worriedly and choppily as she was put on the spot.

"A Great Jagras. Bottom of the food chain in the Ancient Forest. Your kind sort of reminds me of the Great Jaggi or the Velocidrome I used to fight back home when I started my hunting career. Fast but simple like a bird wyvern."

Jaina shrunk back into herself even more. "Umm... thank you?" Jaina said insecurely, squeezing my hand even tighter.

"I could gather that Anja uses a Greatsword, seeing as she seems to have an eye for them. What was your weapon of choice?"

"A hammer. I thought maybe if I took one of the harder hitting weapons, I could contribute more in a hunt."

Aela snapped her fingers as if she just got something. "Ah, it makes sense. A lot of Great Jagras attacks are blunt and heavy hitting. I can see why you went for that. It's already ingrained in your instinctual attack patterns." She said as if taking mental notes.

Finally, as Jaina got more and more uncomfortable, I stepped in. "Hey, I mean no disrespect but could you please stop analyzing my companions? They're people like us, they deserve to have their personal space."

Aela looked at me with confusion. "But... we're here to analyze monsters. We have this great opportunity now to see how they tick, how their mind works. You can't ask me to not ask them questions now that they can talk to us."

"There are other ways to go about that. You can be more sensible with your approach. They barely know your name."

"I don't get you, why are you so attached to captured monsters? We caught so many back in the Old World and never once hesitated to examine them for all that they're worth until we knew every weakness and every ailment we can inflict upon them."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean we can't handle this differently. They are my companions, Aela. Hunters just like you and me, maybe with potential far beyond what we thought possible before. Do you really just want to squander that? They're staying with me and we'll do this my way!" I said in a stern, clear tone, standing my ground.

Aela and I exchanged sharp glances as the tension between us grew palpable.

The Commander, having been busy with other matters, came over to us with an inappropriately cheery smirk. "Ah, I see you've gotten to know each other better. What were you discussing about?"

Aela just grinned self-confidently. "Oh, I just talked to Kalaydus and his friends here that I'm ready to be his Handler."

"You what?" I asked in disbelief.

"Well, I told you a while ago that I'd find you a good fit. Someone who would challenge you a bit and examine your potential. Aela is one of the best huntresses out there, you should be thankful she picked you over anyone else to become her partner." He announced with an unknowing smile on his face.

Me and Aela stared at each other for a little while longer as one side of her lips curled into a cocky smirk. "I think I have the perfect first Quest for you. The Commander told me that you think most of your hunts were based on luck. How about we challenge that a little bit. How about a monster that is just as fast as you are with your blades, hmm?"

"And what would you suggest which monster we're supposed to hunt?" I asked begrudgingly.

"The Commander has mentioned that a couple of scouts came out of the Ancient Forest with burn marks that could only have been cause by an electric shock. Supposedly the researchers call the monster who caused them, a Tobi Kadachi. Agile, flexible and shockingly difficult to keep down on the ground. Luckily for you, a hunter team can consist of up to 4 people so you can bring your 2 friends here as well. See you at the campsite, Kalaydus. I hope for your sake you're wrong about just being lucky." She said as a final farewell and a casual salute before putting her helmet back on and hooking onto the nearest Barnos, flying away, deep into the Ancient Forest.

Me, Anja and Jaina were left behind to prepare. I was confused, frustrated and annoyed. I turned to the Commander. "Are you really sure SHE'S the one you want to assign me to?"

He calmly answered as he watched her flying away alongside me. "She IS pretty hard to get used to. I know that. She's never been much of a team player. Aela prefers hunting solo and you're probably the first partner she's ever had." He sighed as he put a hand on my shoulder. "Kalaydus. I will have to ask a favor of you. Bear with her attitude. She needs to learn what it means to hunt in a team. If she is already at the point where she is willing to hunt with you... trust me, she kinda likes you somewhere deep down. You just have to dig a little bit to get there."

"What about Anja? And Jaina?"

"She'll come around to them eventually too. She doesn't let it on, but she's conflicted about this new discovery we've made. She can't push aside the fact that they're monsters yet. After all, she's a monster hunter by blood through and through. Give her time to adjust. Even the toughest shells tend to crack over time." He patted my shoulder one more time and turned away to tend to the other freshly arrived hunters.

I watched him walk away for a few seconds. I sighed to shake off the frustration, then turned to Anja and Jaina with commanding confidence. "Okay, girls, pack your weapons. We're heading for the Ancient Forest!"

 **[Hey people. Long time no see, eh? I know, I'm aware of it myself. I'm focusing a lot on my work lately and sadly that means I can't warrant spending as much time as I'd like to on writing. Everything takes quite a long time because I have to work on it in intervals.**

 **However I do have a plan how to change this. I really want to work more on my stories and there IS a way how to make that possible. It isn't official yet, but I'm working on opening a page. It isn't up yet, but it soon will be. If I can make writing these stories worthwhile, I will be able to post more frequently and more reliably. So if it goes up and you feel like donating to it, that would help me massively in getting a regular upload schedule going. I can warrant spending more time on my craft and you will get more stories quicker. I will keep you posted on the state of the page and I hope some of you will be there to support it, if not, then that's fine too. I have no intention of stopping my writing, it's just going to take longer for chapters to come out. In the end, it's all up to you and I'm not going to force you to pay anything. Thanks for your patience and your continued support and let's hope there'll be a new chapter much quicker this time.]**


	23. Tobi Kadachi

There we were again. The Ancient Forest. Don't know if I should've felt fond or cautious of it by that point. Though going in there with the distinct goal to hunt a monster certainly took out at least some of the uncertainty.

Aela was leading the group, though she made it perfectly clear that once the monster was found, she would be out of the picture. I followed right behind her, along with Jaina and Anja.

In regular intervals, Aela crouched down, checking the soil for footprints and shed fur or scales. "Do you have any info on this monster yet? Like color? Traits? Abilities? Wyvern Type?"

"Not much at all actually. We know it's fast and agile. The scouts we sent out claim that they barely caught glimpses of it. It hides in the tops of trees and in high places most people don't normally venture to. It can't be an Apex predator, otherwise it wouldn't hide so much."

"Thought so myself. Most monsters when they're in an area, make their presence known one way or another. Rathalos flies around, Barroth just waltzes around like it owns the place and Deviljho... Deviljho will just find you. This one though really seems to want to stay as far away from us as possible."

"Every monster, no matter how stealthy, still leaves a trail. It's not like creatures that size can hide their tracks that easily." I knelt down to inspect the ground when I saw something shimmering, stuck in a nearby bush. I pulled out a lengthy bushel of hair. It was reflective and had a silvery shine to it but the most striking feature were the little sparks of electricity that permeated between the hairs. It gave off a light static that I could feel even through my padded gauntlets. I looked over my shoulder, turning to Anja and Jaina. "Hey, Anja, Jaina, does this fur seem familiar to you?"

"Not to me. Sorry. I don't go into these deep parts of the forest unless I absolutely have to." Jaina said apologetically, but Anja on the other hand seemed to furrow her brow upon seeing it.

"Very familiar unfortunately. This "Tobi Kadachi" is one of the most annoying, bouncing turf-invaders ever. It uses electricity that collects in its body by rubbing against trees. It doubles as a way to mark territory too. That thing thinks it can rub up on your favorite spots and thinks it owns the place."

"So it uses Thunder based attacks... Anja, if this thing attacks, how do you fight it?"

Anja scratched the back of her head, turning away in embarrassment. "I usually let it hit me first and if I see an opening, I give it a good strike of my own and that's usually enough to scare it off. It's... not a strategy I'd recommend actually. I don't have the size advantage anymore."

"I see..." I stood back up and looked in the direction of the tracks, thinner strands of white hair leading into the brush. But something didn't make sense. The forest would only get more and more dense if you went the way the fur was going towards, meaning there's no way that a monster that big could exit the area through there... "It's still here."

We gazed into the deeper brush, thicker leaves and branches blocking the view, but still, we could hear a rustling sound that quickly changed the directions it was coming from.

"So..." Aela said, getting our attention and specifically addressing me "...now that you've got that much figured out, what's your next move?" She asked with her arms crossed like she was already evaluating me.

I thought for a second, looking back and forth between the dark density of the thicket and my party members. I took in my surroundings and deduced the best course of action. Amidst massive trees and hollow stumps were massive tree fungi growing and all sorts of bugs crawling on them. The fungus seemed sturdy enough to even stand on and among the insects around the area, were flashbugs.

I snapped my fingers in front of my face as I came up with something. "Alright, um... Jaina!"

"Yes, Kalaydus?!" She perked up anxiously.

"Get on the mushroom over there, the one on the tree. Get some high ground and when the monster comes out, take your hammer and slam it down as hard as you can on its head. We need to land every hit as effectively as we can."

"Will do!" She yelped obediently, getting into position while I turned to Anja.

"Anja, with any luck, after Jaina's attack, the Tobi Kadachi will be stunned. Charge your sword for a strike and inflict as much damage as you can while it's down. You take the left side, I'll attack the right."

She quickly answered with a nod "I'm on it." And got on the left side of the mushroom Jaina was standing on as I took position across from her and we unsheathed our weapons. "But how do we get it out in the first place?"

"That's the part where Ae..." Just as I turned to give Aela the final task for this plan to work, she raised her arm straight up and launched her slinger, grappling up to a thick branch and laxly perching on it. It took me a moment to respond. "I take it, you're not gonna be a part of this, huh?" I asked more in realization than annoyance.

"Correct. This is your mission, you know your target. I'm here to judge your abilities. If I helped you, it would taint the evaluation."

I sighed a little to myself, trying to think. "Okay... slight change of plan."

"So what now?" Jaina asked worriedly as I moved from my position, closer to the entrance of the dark underbrush.

I took out a small glass vial and fished a flashbug out of the air with it. I snapped it into my slinger and aimed into the darkness. "Your part stays the same. I'm gonna get it to come out. Fighting it in its own turf would be suicide. You better shield your eyes for this!" I commanded, raising my own free arm to nose-level as I saw the red flashing lights of the monster's eyes glare back at me. "NOW!"

With a cracking sound, the flashpod launched into the deep forest and in an instant, illuminated everything. I saw the flashes of blinding light bend around the contours of my arm as I heard an ear-piercing howl followed by the violent snapping of foliage and stumbling, stomping footsteps that came rapidly closer.

As I lowered my arm, I could just about make out the silhouette of Tobi Kadachi barreling toward me, its eyes closed and its glistening, silver-scaled body barely rushing past. I could feel my heartbeat pulsating through my entire body. It felt like things were happening in slow motion. The beast, a cross between a wolf and a snake, furiously shook its head while its eyes were closed to combat the temporary blindness. Its top scales had a blue-ish, silvery sheen while its underside went into platinum shades of white. Thick, spiky scales made up its hide with a mane of silver bristles on its head, neck and diamond-shaped tail.

As my body fell to the ground, being staggered by the force of the beast running by, I watched it slam into the massive trunk of the tree, just as planned. It was amazing to watch as its head punched a head-sized dent into the bark.

I screamed off the top of my lungs. "Jaina! Anja! Now's your chance. Do it!"

"HYAAHHH!" Jaina squeezed her eyes shut as she charged her hit and swung the hammer over her head, crashing it down onto the unsuspecting monster's skull. The heavy, massive metal boulder sure did its trick alright, making Tobi Kadachi screech even harder and losing its footing from the stunning attack. Maybe it was too effective though.

"Not this way! NOT THIS WAY!" Anja yelled as the staggered monster tumbled towards her, falling over and landing directly on top of her with its entire weight, pinning her legs to the ground.

"ANJA!" I stumbled my way back onto my feet and made a run for the silver creature crushing her beneath it. I grabbed my swords, flipped them around and plunged them into Tobi Kadachi's rib cage. As the monster howled, screeched and squirmed, I twisted the blades until they lodged themselves in between the ribs firmly.

"Master, what are you doing? Save yourself! I can handle this!" She yelled in protest as she struggled to get the massive body off of herself.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled together all the strength I could muster to pull and lift the weight off of Anja. I grunted, my muscles ached and I could feel my joints stretching. "I'm not NRRGHHH... gonna let this be your last move in this fight!"

Finally, I could feel the monster's body lift up slightly. At least enough for Anja to free her legs and get out. My blades lost grip just as my hands lost their strength. They slid out of the Tobi Kadachi's flesh, leaving me to tumble backwards yet again.

Inadvertently, I had helped it get back on its feet... and it was not at all happy about the two rectangular holes I left in its rib cage. Its serpentine eyes focused on me as I kicked the ground to get as far away as I could manage before my back made contact with another tree stump behind me. With me cornered and low on stamina, the creature sensed the opportunity to finish me off for an easy kill.

I hyperventilated, weakly gripping the heft of my swords, not yet strong enough to lift them up in defense.

With a loud screech and a scarily wide open maw, Tobi Kadachi lunged at me, its full body hurling towards me. But then...

"YOU'RE... NOT... EATING... HIM!" I heard a furious scream from the last source I expected it from; Jaina. Again, charging up a swing of her hammer, she had not swung it down but rather lobbed it towards and against the monsters head which, with its massive weight, pulled the monster along with it, crushing its head between the hammer and a nearby tree.

A harsh laceration oozed blood from its forehead. The skull must've cracked in at least one place and it seemed like the monster had a hard time standing upright from the concussion. But instead of weakening it... this only made it more angry.

Its breath quickened and its sharp eyes locked onto Jaina. It was easy to see that its anger had shifted to her and it was out for blood.

With a mad dash it now careened towards Jaina. I was helpless, watching as she shielded her face with her arms, defenseless and unarmed.

"NOT HER EITHER!" A war cry shook the forest as Anja stepped in to give cover to Jaina, standing tall like a fortress with the side of her greatsword shielding the two of them.

She stood bravely, both of the girls bracing for impact and digging their claws into the ground. But as if having changed its mind in the last second, the Tobi Kadachi didn't attack, but used the firmly placed blade as a stepping stone to jump onto the side of the tree trunk before it started wildly scrubbing its body over it.

My eyes shot open in shock as I reached out. "It's a trick! Get away from the tree!"

Just as the words left my mouth, the Tobi Kadachi charged up an insane amount of electrical energy, seemingly storing it in its fur which was steadily spiking up as it filled with electricity.

The girls didn't immediately move, in shock as they looked over their shoulders. I yanked at their collars, pulling them away from there as the monster crashed down its tail, causing an explosion of shock where it impacted. The ground was charred where it was struck and for a few seconds, the energy hovered in the air over it.

Tobi Kadachi was now seemingly going into a desperate flurry, making up for the hits it had taken earlier. Just like someone whose hair got charged up by friction, its fur stood up, giving it an even more imposing appearance. It didn't slow down either, charging after us right away as we tried to get some distance between us and it.

"Shit! Okay, new plan!"

"What are we supposed to do, Kalaydus?"

"Get down!"

"What?!" Jaina asked in surprise as we ran.

"NOW!" I yelled as I threw myself onto the ground, twisting my body so I'd land on my back, with Jaina and Anja doing the same shortly after. I lifted my blades slightly above my head with the tips pointing upwards from the ground. As the Tobi Kadachi ran over me, given its unstoppable momentum, my swords hooked into its flesh, dragging me along with it, hanging from its underside.

With Anja and Jaina landing slightly to the left and right to where the monster was running past, they instead hooked their claws into the upper front legs on either side. "What are we doing? This is suicide!" Anja cried out as we were wildly shaken around.

"Just wait for an opportunity to get onto its back!"

"But..." Jaina wanted to intervene.

"Just trust me! I have a plan!"

"A good one?"

"Not at all!"

The beast, even more annoyed with us hanging off of it, got onto its hind legs, twisting and turning its body to shake us off. We stuck as close to the monsters body as we could, me clinging to the grips of my swords and the girls clamoring for something to dig their claws into. With our bodies being flung about like that, we had to take advantage of the momentum and I gave the order. "Loosen your grip and let it fling you around its body. Grab onto its back hairs."

"But they're electrified! We're going to get fried!"

"We don't have a choice, Anja!"

Reluctantly, the girls shut their eyes, swinging around the monster's body and onto its back. One by one we each grabbed bushels of hair with our 6 hands right next to each other as we attached ourselves to its body yet again.

Immediately, the current coursed through our bodies, stifling our muscles and causing spasms in our bodies. We grit our teeth, bearing with it as we fought the burning pain. Our combined weight was heavy enough to keep Tobi Kadachi grounded and from further squirming around too much. It was wheezing, drool dripping from its maw.

While being shocked, I wrung out my order. "We need to deal the maximum amount of damage while... nrrgrghhhhhh... we can! Anja..." Was the last word I could push out my throat, gesturing with my eyes at Anja's greatsword.

She unsheathed it with unsteady hands, gritting her teeth as every fiber of her body must've ached and refused to do what it was supposed to do. Me and Jaina put our hands on top of Anja's gripping the hilt of the sword.

"HRAAAAAAAAGHHH!"

Screaming through the pain, we pushed the great sword in between its shoulder blades, penetrating its fur and hide until it was buried halfway in its flesh.

Already weak and out of power, the Tobi Kadachi staggered and collapsed until its body went limp and the electricity fizzled out.

Our bodies were smoking and our armor charred at the edges. Just as limp as the monster itself, we fell off its back, rolling down onto the soft grass. With the monster lying next to us, just as exhausted and hurt as we were, we could finally relax. Thankfully, it was still breathing yet with the sword in its back, that couldn't have been easy to do.

"We... we did it... hehe... ahahahaha!" I started laughing, exhausted and wheezing, but still laughing. Jaina and Anja at first turned to me in bewildered confusion but soon started to crack up themselves.

"We really did, huh? Our first captured monster as a team..." Jaina chuckled, breathing sighs of relief.

"You haven't captured it yet!" A strict, harsh voice called out to us. Aela had gotten off her vantage point and gave us no rest. "It's still breathing and I don't see it turning into anything resembling the two of you!" She motioned towards Jaina and Anja. "So do whatever you gotta do to make that happen first before you start praising yourself!" And finally she pointed at me, looming over my tired body and lightly kicking me in the side so I would get up.

"Urgh... you're right, making it suffer longer than it needs to would just be cruel."

"It's not about cruelty, I just don't want to be out here longer than we need to be. I couldn't care less about how the monster feels about it, I just want to go back to camp already. Let's be time-efficient about this."

A little annoyed at her attitude, I turned my mind to something else. I sidled up to the head of the creature, its head on its side and its serpentine eyes looking up at me as soon as I came into view. Its breathing was ragged and partially gurgle-y.

I put its head on my lap, gently lifting it onto it while I petted the bristles on its head, which were no longer filled with the static from before. "You fought well, really went all out on us there, didn't you. You sure are a fighter. A clever one too."

In between its heavy breaths, I could hear a soft grumbling. Whether it was from aggression or affection, I couldn't tell. What I could tell was that it was uncomfortably in pain.

"Anja, could you remove your sword, please?"

"Certainly, master." She answered promptly and did as instructed.

Tobi Kadachi grunted for a second as the steel left its body but soon after sunk down into a more relaxed state, though still breathing heavily. "Don't worry, I'll make the pain go away. I hope you'll feel at home in our team as you did in this forest." I took out my sword and calmly guided it to its throat, making sure not to startle it with rash movements.

"You're gonna cut its throat? If you were gonna kill it from the start, why not just..."

"Shhh..." Jaina suddenly interrupted and silenced her with an uncharacteristically stern look and head-shake at Aela who was slightly startled by it but obliged with a stifled groan.

As with Jaina and Anja before, the blade didn't actually cut through the flesh, but rather glided through the body without leaving a trace. I dragged it through its entire neck, gently pulling it back out after I hit the ground with it.

It was sufficient enough and soon after, the body hollowed out, leaving an empty hide as the life left the former monster's eyes. I gave it a few minutes to settle and called on the girls to cut open what was left of the body.

Inside the remains, laid a slender girl with an athletic body, slightly pale skin and dazzling, frizzy, long silver hair even longer than Anja's and Jaina's. It was long enough to even transition into the elongated, diamond-shaped tail that was growing out of her lower back which was covered in fur on top that was indistinguishable from the rest of her hair. Her arms and legs just like the others' were covered in scaled and ended in claws rather than hands or feet.

I lifted her out of there, making sure not to wake her up. She needed her rest probably even more so than Anja or Jaina did.

"So... this is how you do it, huh?" Aela inquired as she inspected the girl.

"Yeah, that's what happened when I fought against Anja and Jaina. She needs to recover now before she can get up again. Her mind needs time to get used to her new body."

"Interesting indeed. Heh, you might've just made our job of capturing monsters a lot easier. This... is far more manageable. Haaa... well now that I've gotten a taste of this new world, guess it's not too different from the old one. Hope you'll manage to keep it interesting for me. We'll be working with each other for a while after all." She said, stretching her arms.

"I uh... guess I'll do my best? So what now? We've finished our mission, should we get back? Don't you want to carve anything from the Tobi Kadachi?"

"Those are your spoils rookie. You've earned them yourself. Though..." She turned to me with a strict tone. "...there is still the matter of your evaluation. Once you are finished here... meet me in Astera." And with those foreboding words, she let out a whistle, calling in a Barnos to carry her back to camp and left.

"Did we... mess up, Kalaydus?" Jaina asked carefully, as Anja's eyes seemed to ask the same question.

I smiled softly and before I even realized it myself, I was pulling in both girls to give them a firm hug. With their heads on my shoulders, I could feel their warmth as I squeezed them. "No, you did nothing wrong, girls. You did exactly what you should've done. I'm... You did good."

I didn't even have to look, to feel the relief and joy radiating from them as they squeezed me back.

"M...master..." Anja muttered, resting her head on my shoulder while her claw grabbed onto my back along with Jaina's.

"You looked out for each other and you hit when you were supposed to. It's thanks to you guys that we even won. If anything... I owe you." I spoke softly next to their ears, petting both of their heads at the same time, gently combing my hands through their hair.

"We owe you much more, master. You're the one who'se given us a purpose to begin with." Anja said, humbly lowering her head and closing her eyes.

"She said it. We're glad to be by your side, Kalaydus. You can count on us anytime." Jaina pumped a hyped-up fist, cheering us all on.

"Heh, guess I will have to many more times then." I chuckled, breathing out another sigh, not being able to believe how lucky I got with these two. Guess the luck isn't showing any sign of drying up either.

Lost in thought, my eyes wandered to the new, sleeping girl. I already wondered what she would be like. Would she accept becoming human like Anja and Jaina did or would she reject it?

Only time would tell, but for now...

"Well then... guess we'll have to carry her and the materials back to Astera now..."

"Haaaaaa..." And we all let out the final, exhausted sigh of the day.

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **I took quite a long time to come out with this one and this time it's been on me. Not only have I been busy dealing with people who stole and reposted my stuff...**

 **but to be honest, I have been ABSORBED by a game called Persona 5. It just ate up a lot of my time and it was hard to tear myself away from it. So much so that I even considered doing a full on romance series about it. Let me tell you, that game has some top-tier characters, let alone waifus.**

 **We'll see if I actually go through with it but for now, this has been a refreshing return to form.**

 **Show your support in the comments and if you liked this story, give me a favorite and a follow.**

 **Until hopefully soon,**

 **Alleskeins**


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